Telcos seek gov’t subsidy to provide data plans for underserved communities

Philippine telecommunications firms have proposed that the government subsidize data plans that the companies seek to provide to unconnected Filipino households until 2028, in a bid to boost connectivity across the country, especially in underserved communities.

According to Globe Telecom Inc., the country’s three mobile network operators (MNOs) are proposing to provide SIM cards to unconnected Filipino households with an automatic monthly load seeding of 50 gigabytes (GB) for a year.

This will then cover the average usage of a five-member household and connect remote communities  with mobile signals and internet, giving them access to education, healthcare, government services, and economic opportunities.

“The telco industry is fully dedicated to leveraging our partnership within the industry and with the government to reach underserved areas where the private sector has been unable to build because of the negative cost to business,” Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu said.

Cu also heads the Connectivity Plan Task Force (CPTF) of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), which has submitted a blueprint to Malacañang seeking to reach geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs).

There are currently 7,063 barangays classified as GIDAs, covering nearly 25 million residents.

“Once the government lays a bigger stake in our push for inclusive connectivity and invests in our proposal, this will mark a milestone in our collective aspiration for a Digital Philippines,” Cu said.

“Together, we will be able to create pathways to opportunities and essential services that can significantly improve lives,” he added.

The proposal also proposed to maximize the utilization of existing towers and build new infrastructure in GIDAs, but called for legislative support to strictly enforce the streamlining of the permitting process for new cell sites.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, vowed support for policy reforms for common towers as he said only 20.6 million households or 77% of the Philippine population were connected to the internet as of 2022. — BM, GMA Integrated News