(Eagle News)–The Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission are calling for an amendment to a Department of Public Works and Highways order that bans phone cable posts and posts of mobile service providers along national roads.
In asking the DPWH to look into the feasibility of amending Department Order 73 s. 2014, the ICT department and the NTC noted that the provision that also prohibits the “posts and towers of Electric Cooperatives and Major Electric Power Distribution; distribution lines..” on the major thoroughfares pose difficulties for public telecommunication entities as they proceed with the implementation of their roll-out plans for critical backbone and last mile connectivity.
In the letter dated September 21 and addressed to DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, the DICT and NTC noted their joint commitment under the Memorandum of Agreement signed during the First Philippine Telecoms Summit on May 8, 2017 to amend or revise D.O. 73, s. 2014 to institute more conducive right-of-way regulations to accelerate the deployment of ICT infrastructure.
The ICT department and the NTC said the proposed amendments to D.O. 73 were also included as one of the priorities of the recently established Telecommunications Monitoring Group (TMG), an inter-agency body comprised of members from the DICT, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC), Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP).
“The indispensable use not just of telecommunications, but also of the Internet and other information services in the new normal, highlights the urgent need for equitable access to affordable, quality and reliable ICT connectivity,” DICT Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II said.
According to Honasan, this will only be possible “through the accelerated rollout of ICT networks and infrastructure..”
“So our priority is to develop enabling policies that address the private sectors’ complaints against red tape that serve as a cause of delay in the rollout of infrastructure for both telecommunicatìons as well as information services,” he added.
