It’s unfortunate that a legal battle has ensued even before the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has made a decision. Now we wait for the proper judicial process to take its course.
Ultimately, the landmark Philippine Competition Act was created to benefit our citizens. In the end, we need to make sure that Filipino consumers have access to improved internet services.
Mga bida, laman ng balita kamakailan ang inisyal na usapan sa pagitan ng susunod na peace process officials at mga lider ng National Democratic Front (NDF) sa Norway.
Sa ulat, nagmistulang reunion ng magkakabarkada ang pulong dahil matagal nang magkakilala ang mga miyembro ng dalawang kampo.
Sa nasabing miting, mabilis na nagkasundo ang dalawang panig na ipagpatuloy ang usapan para matuldukan na ang ilang dekadang tunggalian at ipursigi ang inaasam na kapayapaan.
Lingid naman sa kaalaman ng lahat, may nangyari ring pag-uusap sa pagitan ng PLDT at Globe, ang dalawa sa pinakamalaking telecommunication companies sa bansa.
Hindi tulad ng nangyaring pulong sa Norway, dumaan sa butas ng karayom at mabusisi ang naging usapan ng mga negosyador ng PLDT at Globe upang marating ang kasunduan para sa IP Peering.
Inabot ng halos isang taon ang negosasyon upang maabot ang matagal na nating isinusulong na IP Peering sa pagdinig ng aking kumite ukol sa mahal at mabagal na Internet sa bansa.
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Sa mga nakalipas na hearing ng Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, lumutang ang IP Peering bilang isa sa mga solusyon upang mapabilis ang koneksiyon ng Internet sa Pilipinas.
Dahil walang IP Peering, kapag nagbukas ng isang website sa Pilipinas, ang data ay nagtutungo pa sa ibang bansa bago bumalik dito. Resulta, mabagal magbukas ng isang website.
Sa tulong ng IP Peering, hindi na lalabas ng bansa ang data kaya mas mabilis nang magbukas ang website na nais nating puntahan.
Sa una, naging mainit na usapin ukol sa IP Peering. Matigas ang naging pagtutol ng mga telcos sa nasabing panukala sa maraming kadahilanan.
Pero nang tumagal, unti-unti rin silang lumambot at pumayag nang silipin ang posibilidad na mangyari ang IP Peering.
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Kamakailan, nangyari na nga ang matagal nang pinapangarap ng maraming Pilipino nang pumirma sa isang memorandum of agreement ang PLDT at Globe para sa IP Peering.
Ayon sa telcos, ang benepisyo ng kasunduan ay mararamdaman ng halos lahat ng Internet users sa bansa, lalo na ng mobile subscribers na gumagamit ng data, kapag nakumpleto na ang IP peering sa loob ng 30 araw.
Maituturing ito na isang malaking panalo sa hangarin nating mapaganda ang estado ng Internet mula nang buksan natin ang imbestigasyon sa Senado ukol sa mahal at mabagal na serbisyo ng telcos.
Naging matagal man ang proseso, nagpapasalamat tayo na ito’y naging katuparan. Sabi nga nila, better late than never.
Article first published on Abante Online
We’ve been talking about this for nine months. Actually, it might even be a little longer than that.
To be frank, the first time I had these gentlemen visit me in the Senate was, I think, more than a year ago. But, I’m truly happy that we finally came to this deal.
Maraming salamat and I truly hope that this will be one of more milestones that we can put under our belts in terms of really increasing the speed, quality and access of internet in the Philippines.
You know, a lot of people say, “You’re giving the telcos a hard time!” But I don’t think it’s really giving you a hard time. I’d like to think that the atmosphere that we create is one where we can collaborate and work together.
And If we have the goal in mind, which is really improving the quality, access and service to our people, then I think it’s a direction where all of us – whether you’re competitors, you’re in government, you’re in the private sector — it’s a place where we can all move towards.
Again, thank you for the meeting of the minds that happened.
There was a negotiating team, I heard. So congratulations to the negotiating team.
Iyong nakita kong negotiating team this morning was NDF and Philippine Government. Mas madugo ang negotiating na nangyari. But all of these agreements are being signed and this IP peering agreement is akin to that.
I am very, very elated with these developments. I know that this will be the first of many more steps to improve the quality of internet in our country.
Maraming salamat and congratulations!
Sen. Bam Aquino welcomes the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for IP peering between PLDT and Globe, which was ironed out after months of talks between the two biggest telecommunication companies in the country.
“I am very happy that it’s finally happening after months of talks. We started looking into this option more than a year ago in the Senate,” said Sen. Bam in his speech during the signing ceremony.
Sen. Bam hopes that the MOA is “one of more milestones that we can put under our belts in terms of really increasing the speed, quality and access of Internet in the Philippines”.
The senator has been pushing for IP peering, among other solutions, during the Senate hearing on the country’s Internet conditions, which he initiated as chairman of the Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship.
Sen. Bam said the benefit of this agreement will be felt by nearly all Internet users in the Philippines, especially mobile subscribers who use data, when the IP peering is completed after 30 days.
“The good thing is, bibilis ang internet dahil hindi na kailangan lumabas ng bansa ang data,” Sen. Bam stressed.
Sen. Bam says they will be closely monitoring the developments over the next 30 days and will continue to work on solutions to improve the quality of Internet services in the Philippines.
Q: How this agreement will benefit the public?
Sen. Bam: Ang public natin, accessing government websites, government to government transactions, mas bibilis dapat iyon kasi ngayong kasama na ang PLDT sa PHOpenIX, ibig sabihin niyan iyong data ng gobyerno, from the government side, or even from the public, hindi na kailangang umalis ng bansa, para makaabot sa mga government websites.
We’re hoping that this can help alleviate some of the concerns, iyong kabagalan, iyong latency, pagdating sa pag-access sa government websites. Again, hindi pa ito ang IP peering na ninanais natin but we’re one step closer now that a big player like PLDT is now part of the PHopenIX.
Q: For example, I’m a Filipino consumer, bibisitahin ko ang DOST website, mas mabilis na siya ngayon kumpara dati?
Sen. Bam: Dapat, once it is implemented. Noon, lalabas ka pa ng bansa. Your data goes out of the country, of course may security concerns din iyon, bago siya bumalik at makapasok sa government websites natin. Even government to government, previously, kailangan pa ring lumabas ng bansa.
This will help in terms of security, and should help in terms of quality of the service. We’re hoping this can be a good first step, simulan natin sa government websites but the goal really is lahat ng mga websites sa Pilipinas, nag-uusap-usap, nagkakaroon ng interconnectivity.
Wala pa tayo roon but the representatives of PLDT said they’ll need a few more weeks. Hopefully, within a month’s time, maayos na ang IP peering issues natin.
Q: Can you elaborate on security, di ba may mga incident ng hacking sa website? How would this prevent ang mga ganoong occurrence?
Sen. Bam: I think the first step is have the government websites host it sa PHopenIX kasi I think previous to a few years ago, kanya-kanyahan iyang web hosting.
So it’s important to have it web hosted by DOST and at the same time, iyong security measures nila, maaaring magamit ng government agencies na iyon.
Having if here plus connected na rin, hopefully gaganda na rin ang service ng public towards government website.
Q: May comment po ba kayo sa pagpasok ng Telstra sa market?
Sen. Bam: Hopefully it will help our market. Mas gaganda ang services natin, magkakaroon ng kumpetisyon, that’s important para sa kahit anong merkado.
We passed the Philippine Competition Act this year that really serves to increase competition in all of our industries. Pag mas maraming players kasi, mas maganda ang serbisyo at mas mababa ang presyo, that’s basic economics.
So with a third player coming in next year, hopefully naghahanda na rin ang current players ngayon. Kapag mas dumami ang players natin, hopefully it will provide better quality and lower cost to our consumers.
Q: Ang DICT, if posible po bang maisakatuparan ngayon?
Sen. Bam: I’m one of the ones supporting the DICT. Iyong IT sa ating bansa, nagdadala ng trabaho, nagdadala ng connectiveness sa ating mga kamag-anak, nagdadala ng tulong sa maliliit na negosyo.
Having that backbone and that infrastructure is important to our competitiveness kaya panahon nang may sariling ahensiya na nakatutok dito.
Ang focus niya, paano pababain ang presyo ng Internet, paano mas magiging connected ang mga kababayan natin.
Most of our connectedness is in the urban areas, pagdating mo sa rural areas, mahina ang signal, mabagal ang Internet kaya mahalagang magkaroon ng agency na focused talaga dito.
“Magandang umaga po sa ating lahat. Definitely, today is a big step towards achieving our goals of having improved Internet services in the Philippines.
Ngayon po, all of our government websites, at least majority of our government websites, are locally peered.
This means, now that PLDT is connected to the PHOpenIX, our government data, any g to g data doesn’t have to leave the Philippines and can actually just travel locally among our shores.
Can you imagine the issues on national security previous to this day and this partnership? Before, government data had to travel outside of the country and come back to our shores to be able to get back to other government websites.
Today definitely is a huge day and we would like to thank PLDT and DOST for finally working out this partnership. Definitely, we can all sleep more soundly tonight now that this partnership is done.
Malaking bagay po na ang huge player like PLDT is now connected to the PHOpenIX. It does open a lot of opportunities in the future. At the minimum, our government sites are safer and of course would be more efficient Of course, this partnership does open the doors for other partnerships down the line.
What I’ve been harping about IP peering in the Senate hearings regarding IP peering, I think, we’re one step closer to that with this MOA signing.
Hopefully there will be another great announcement before the end of the year when it comes to full IP peering in the Philippines.
Today is definitely a good step, a big step and along the way of trying to improve Internet services in the Philippines, this is one of those days that we will remember as a banner day to be able to get to the goals that we want for our country.
More and more, lumalabas talaga na ang competitiveness of our country, a large part of it, in the next five to 10 years, if not the next two to three years, will be dependent on how good our Internet infrastructure is.
We’re hoping that together, we can really build a much improved Internet infrastructure in the Philippines.
We have a long way to go definitely, but sabi nga nila, each journey begins with one step and this is definitely a good step in the right direction.”
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