Digital connectivity as indispensable
At a United Nations High-Level Political Forum in 2024, professor Patrick Blessinger of the State University of New York posited that with contemporary life revolving around the internet, access to the worldwide web has become “a de facto human right,” as basic and indispensable to survival and development as food, water, and shelter, thus must be within easy reach of all citizens, especially the poor.
“We’re at a crucial juncture in human history where we must recognize internet access as a necessity, not a luxury. With it, anyone can access vital educational and economic opportunities especially in low-income areas,” Blessinger said.
It is thus an encouraging move that the Marcos administration has committed to make digital connectivity “a cornerstone of national development” through the National Digital Connectivity Plan (NDCP) that President Marcos signed last week.
Dubbed the country’s first national infrastructure master plan for digital connectivity, it aims to accelerate the rollout of a critical broadband network and lower internet costs in the Philippines so that every Filipino will have access to fast, reliable, and affordable internet services by 2028.
Grand plan
With wider and more affordable access, economic growth will be accelerated and the delivery of public services across the country transformed, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
“With the NDCP approved, we are turning the President’s vision into reality: a connected Philippines where every student, worker, and entrepreneur can thrive,” DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said.
The NDCP is certainly ambitious: 100-percent connectivity in all public schools, barangays, and health centers; deployment of 130,000 free Wi-Fi sites nationwide; creation of 8 million digital jobs; 40 to 80 percent reduction in internet costs; and increase in the average broadband speeds to 225 megabits per second (Mbps) for mobile and 275 Mbps for fixed broadband, thus bringing the Philippines closer to global standards.
To translate the grand plan into tangible reality, the Marcos administration will prioritize the completion of the National Fiber Backbone, expansion of submarine cable landing sites, acceleration of next-generation mobile technologies, targeted connectivity for remote areas, and strengthening of cybersecurity and climate-resilient infrastructure measures.
China’s ZTE Corp.
These are worthy objectives indeed, but accomplishing them will require not just a grandiose program that looks good on paper. Mr. Marcos’ lieutenants must have the steely determination, ensure coordinated response across departments, and secure the buy-in of local governments and stakeholders including the academe, education sector, and civil society to see the grand plan through.
Recall how the deployment of additional telecommunications equipment across the country had long been hobbled by, among others, kilometric requirements that can vary from one local government to another, thus leading to interminable delays and cost escalation.
Cutting the long red tape and solving longstanding right-of-way problems that have hounded all kinds of infrastructure projects must therefore be a top priority if these goals are to be achieved within the tight time frame before Mr. Marcos ends his term in 2028.
The Marcos administration should also muster the robust financial and technical support of the private sector while ensuring that the issues that bedeviled previous broadband connectivity projects will not be repeated.
Recall again how in 2007, the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed a $329-million National Broadband Network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., which at that time called for the installation of a telecommunications network to link government offices throughout the country.
Yawning digital divide
But allegations of collusion, bribery, and corruption that involved top government officials including the former president and her husband eventually led to the cancellation of the contract and thus doomed the project that was vital on its merits.
Indeed, the broadband project was important then and the expanded digital connectivity plan more so today given how the internet has become as indispensable as food, water, and electricity.
The implementation of the NDCP should therefore not be blackened by corruption at any level, from the awarding of the supplier contracts or the public-private partnerships that the government intends to enter into to fulfill the noble objectives.
The Marcos administration should thus not give itself any room to fail in the implementation of the NDCP, as it will ultimately determine whether the Philippines will be able to do right by its people and also catch up with its Asian peers or risk falling further behind and further widening the already yawning digital divide.
