President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said fast and affordable internet is now mandatory to boost the country’s international competitiveness.
During the 23rd International Cable Congress and Exhibit of the Federation of International Cable Television and Telecommunications Association of the Philippines (FICTAP) at the Manila Hotel on Friday, the President noted it would cost the country a lot of opportunities if it will lag behind in terms of internet service.
“We cannot do business without good internet coverage. We cannot trade with other countries without good internet and without good telecommunications,” he said.
“We cannot do all of the things that are necessary to transform our economy without good connectivity, with a high bandwidth, with good speed, and at a very affordable price. This is the aspiration,” Marcos added.
The President also urged the private sector to assist in government’s efforts in improving the internet connection service nationwide, especially in remote areas.
Among the said initiatives are the National Broadband Program, Free Wi-Fi for All Program, the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure, and the establishment of shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure Sites.
“These initiatives will build up our country’s digital infrastructure and achieve our targets in the Philippine Development Plan [PDP] for 2023-2028,” Marcos said.
Under the latest PDP, the government is pushing to increase the number of firms adopting e-commerce from 17 percent to 22 percent to 28 percent by 2028.
“I therefore enjoin the cable and telecommunications sector and the DICT [Department of Information and Communications Technology] to continue aligning and synchronizing your plans and programs so that we can improve public access to information and communications technology, as well as to provide the best digital services that we can to Filipinos not only in the urban areas, most especially those located in the remote parts of our country,” Marcos said.