ICT FOR EVERYONEA PHILIPPINE PERSPECTIVE

By:

ATTY. GRACIANO L . SITCHON

Executive Director, Telecommunications Office

Commission on Information and Communications Technology

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

Submitted to the

ASEM Forum on ICT Research & Development

Bandung, West Java Indonesia

July 20-21, 2010

I. Salutation

• Our gratitude to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia for the sponsorship of the ASEM FORUM;

• To the experts and ICT practitioners from the ASEM member countries as well as the delegates from private or non-profit organizations of other countries.

II. Postulate

• That, ICT holds a crucial role and is a revolutionary vehicle in both developing and developed countries;

• That, there is a widespread agreement that ICT offers transformational opportunities for a country’s economy;

• Experience has shown that access to ICT is optimized in countries with effective, competition-centered, market friendly regulatory framework that support and sustain both ICT investment and diffusion;

As articulated in the summit documents, we are proceeding from the following postulates;

• Where regulation is necessary, there is need to manage the transition from old to new ICT environments, which raises a wide range of questions including: the scope of authority of ICT regulatory institutions; approaches to licensing, competition policy and level playing field in the new environment; the question of legacy subsidy arrangements; best practices in technology; issues in market research; and approaches to universal access in order to realize the potential of alternative network infrastructures. (Almost as truism, President Arroyo herself expressed her appreciation of the fact that “ICT technology is actually the foundation of future economic development and that, given the important role of ICT in national development, collaboration between the government and the business sector is imperative.”)

III. ICT: Philippine Perspective

In the Philippines, at the forefront in building the ICT highway is the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, in collaboration with the private sector as the prime mover of the industry. Playing the role of advocate, laying the ground work for regulation and policies to level off the playing field for entrepreneurs.

All ICT programs, were anchored under the following guiding principles:

• All citizens should have access to basic government services, information and quality education through the use of affordable ICT technologies;

• Government primary role in ICT development is to provide an enabling policy, legal and regulatory environment that levels the playing field and allows the private sector to lead;

• ICT is a tool for human and sustainable development;

• The development of an information society requires a multi-stake holder approach;

• A Philippine Information Society requires the accesibility and development of digital content that is relevant and meaning to Filipinos;

• The role of ICT as major driver on the economy requires the creation of a government institution to facilitate ICT development.

IV. The Battlecry: ICT for Everyone

Taking a cue from an exit report of Philipine CICT Secretary:

The period 2001-2010 marked the period of unprecedented development in the information and communications technology for the Philippines. During this time, the Philippine made a name for itself in the international community as one of the emerging leaders in ICT. Among the titles that have been bestowed upon the country are,

• OFFSHORING DESTINATION OF THE YEAR;

• SMS CAPITAL OF THE WORLD; AND

• SOCIAL NETWORKING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.

It continue to state that;

“As early of 2001, the industry was still in its infancy and only employed a total of 2,400 workers. Today, the country is widely recognized as the top alternating destination for BPO services next to India. The industry which now includes call centers, back office operations, software developments, medical and legal transcription, engineering, design, animation and game development, has grown to US. Dollar 7.2 billion industry employing a total of 442,164 workers as of 2009. The industry is expected to grow an additional 26% in 2010 to US. Dollar 9.1 billion.

V. A Glance at the ICT Infrastructure Landscape

• Mobile Sector

Until the early part of 200, the sector is considered moribund if not close to dying, with only one in every Filipino having a mobile phone. The situation changed the (10) year later with about two in every Filipino having a mobile phone. The growth was driven by the popularity of SMS known locally as “texting” with over 400 million text messages sent daily. Mobile subscriber already reached the 70 million mark in 2008.

• Fixed Line Sector

Following liberalization in 1993, the TELECOM sector had ten (10) new entrants. As a result, tariffs went down and the country’s fixed line population penetration improved considerably. Even the Service Area Scheme in place, only 50% of the fixed line capacity has been utilized.

• Broadcast Sector

Size of the Broadcast Sector

AM Radio Stations - 381

FM Radio Station - 628

TV Stations (VHF-UHF) - 250

TV Relay Stations - 29

Pay TV Stations - 57

CATV Stations - 1,501

As a footnote, the recent decision of the government to adopt the ISDB-TV (Digital TV) standard, as against the European DVB-T standard, could perhaps be considered as a boom to broadcast industry, depending on what perspective the matter is viewed.

• Broadband Deployment

Urban Coverage - 100%

Rural Coverage - 40%

VI. Some of the RP’s Pet ICT Initiatives

ICT for Economic Development, as a program, serves also as a cover for more specific projects, as follows;

Current:

ICT for Health – Funded this year with P100M budget with a yearly increase of P50M.

ICT for Education – P50M this year with a yearly increase of P50M

ICT for Agriculture – P30M this year with a yearly increase of P30M

ICT for Energy – P5M this year with a yearly increase of P5M

ICT for Environment -P5M this year with a yearly increase of P5M

Other Related ICT Research – Related Projects

Ubiquitous/Pervasive Computing – P20M this year with a yearly increase of P20M

Human-Machine Interaction – P10M this year with a yearly increase of P10M

Computational Systems & Services – P5M this year with a yearly increase of P5M

Digital Media, Creature Contact Service Management – P10M this year with a yearly increase of P10M.

Web Science – P5M this year with a yearly increase of P5M

Foundation of Computer Science – P3M this year with a yearly increase of P3M

VII. Noticeable Ironies

• The studies that our government has made in ICT is over the past decade is big yet a realization that so much work is still to be done to fully harness the benefits of ICT for the country.

• As an infant industry generating barely 2,400 labor force in 2001, ten (10) years later the industry is employing a total 442,164 workers. Yet, the irony of wanting much more.

• The industry was projected to grow exponentially by 26% in 2010 yet the irony of knowing that the expected growth is not even close the vaunted target of having an ICT FOR EVERYONE.

• Perhaps, the irony lies on the fact that, ICT as a common resource of making is inexhaustible. We can harness it, but we can only have so much of it, based on man’s inherent limitations.

VIII. The Challenge

Several issues ware raised and summarized for discussion in this Forum as follows:

• Best Practices in:

- Regulatory Research;

- Technology Research; and

- Market Research in the era of convergence.

• Current problems issues solution in the era of convergence;

• Challenges and opportunities for strengthening cooperation in ICT Research and Development.

To set the tone for productive exchanges, we offer the following questions for considerations;

• Is there a dividing time between Telecommunications and ICT?

• If there is, is the distinction significant enough to warrant discussion in the Forum?

• Concededly, telecommunications is regulated industry. Could this be said in ICT?

• If not, why no?

• If yes, to what extent would regulation in ICT be necessary?

• Under what circumstance would self-regulation work?

• Do we have an existing model of a working self-regulation ICT regime? If there is, can it be replicated within the ASEAN family?

• Technology choice is by for a sovereign decision. Is the situation reversible?

• Can ASEM be of help in rationalizing the situation?

• Is it technically feasible to adopt a common ICT technology standard for the ASEM PLAYERS?

• Is it politically feasible, as well?

• The ICT market has tow components: a) The supplier and b) The consumer side. What best practice model could we adopt to balance the interest of the two market components?

IX. Final Statement : A CAVEAT

It maybe safe to assume that all government administrators are striving to provide all the necessary mechanism to make life competitive through the powers of ICT. While in stride, it is also imperative that the entire citizenry should be able to support the programs by exerting efforts in facing head-on the challenges of rising ICT as a tool of development. As we know, ICT is as much a tool and business in itself. The challenge for every administrator is to balance the utility value of ICT to benefit making.

We see ASEM in a position to mediate and probably impose it clout, to make the difference among its members.

Thank You Very Much!