Globe calls for government help amid backlogs

Communications gi­ant Globe Telecom is seeking govern­ment help in its bid to speed up the installation of more cell sites in the country as consumer demand for mo­bile data rises.

Globe Chief Information and Technology Officer Gil Genio said that there was a need to rationalize permitting process for cell sites. The cur­rent process involves at least 25 permits taking a minimum of eight months to complete.

He said that construction of additional sites was crucial to improving internet services in the country as this would provide more bandwidth for local Internet users.

Genio said the compa­ny’s quarterly traffic data in­creased exponentially to 98 petabytes in the third quarter of the year from only 9 peta­bytes in the first quarter of 2013 amid growing customer demand for multimedia con­tent.

Currently, Globe has a cell site backlog of around 3,000 sites due to difficulties in securing permits from var­ious local government units, homeowners associations, and other government agen­cies causing considerable delays in the construction of such facilities.

The Philippines serve more customers per site com­pared to other operators in Asia, Globe Telecom said.

User-per-site density in the Philippines is about 2,244, based on estimates of 21,000 total cell sites against internet users of around 47.1 million.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, which is similar in size to the Philippines, has a much lower user-per-site density of only 860 based on a total number of 55,000 cell sites against 47.3 million internet users, which is also almost equal to the total Filipino internet us­ers of 47.1 million.

Malaysia, with a 22,000 cell sites against 20.6 million internet users, has a user-per-site density of 937. Japan, with 220,000 cell sites against 115 million internet users, has a user-per-site density of 522 while China, with 1.18 mil­lion cell sites against 688 mil­lion internet users, has a user-per-site density of 566.

To improve cell site per user density in the Philip­pines, the government needs to prioritize infrastructure builds for the telco indus­try. The government should simplify acquisition process for cell sites and rationalize permitting process including tower fees. Spectrum man­agement and monitoring by the National Telecommuni­cations Commission is also important.

“Spectrum allocation is a function of site density in order to serve customers ef­fectively. Spectrum must not be left in the hands of private companies that do not use it to benefit consumers,” Genio said.

Globe supports an up­date on the country’s ICT strategy and plan including the development of a national broadband plan to improve delivery of government ser­vices; the promotion of pro­cess efficiencies for public service; and provision of WiFi services in public areas and internet connectivity in pub­lic schools.

The company also sup­ports calls for an amendment on existing laws as the Tele­com Policy Act of 1935 and Republic Act 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Act of 1995 to reflect 21st century requirements and enable rationalization of the management, allocation, or assignment of radio frequen­cy spectrum in a manner that is transparent, fair, and eco­nomically efficient and effec­tive.