The Cable TV operators convention at the Dusit Hotel on March 1st has one overriding theme: Broadband Internet and the right to provide the service over cable TV networks to their thousands of subscribers throughout the nation.
Broadband over Cable was the world's first broadband service, pre-dating the DSL technology of the telephone companies by at least a year. In the United States, the first broadband subscriptions were over Cable TV networks.
In the Philippines, however, this medium for providing high-speed Internet is underdeveloped with only Metro Manila cable providers PLDT-affiliated Sky/Home Cable and Destiny Cable offering the service.
Why is this so?
It certainly couldn't be for any technical reasons: Cable Broadband is a mature, cost-efficient and proven technology that has reliably delivered high-speed Internet to areas worldwide that telephone companies have been unwilling or unable to service.
The Cable TV association are lobbying the NTC to allow them to provide this service, correctly pointing out that they already have the infrastructure in place to offer this service. The problem appears to be regulatory in nature, with the NTC requiring an investment of P10 Million from the cable companies to “qualify” for the privilege.
The millions of pesos in investments in the cable TV infrastructure should already qualify cable operators, but these investments do not count, according to the NTC. The P10 Million should be invested in Internet equipment, they say.
But with the cost of Internet equipment falling, Internet providers would be hard pressed to spend P10 Million pesos to establish a network. Internet equipment that cost millions a decade ago can be purchased at computer shops for less than ten thousand pesos.
More so when the provider already has a viable infrastructure on which to deliver the service, which is exactly what the Cable TV operators association is lobbying for: That their existing investments in their cable network be considered as fulfilling that investment requirement. Their Internet service runs on their existing networks after all!
To economists, such unneccessary regulatory restrictions are deemed protectionist, designed to protect another sector that provides equivalent services and create barriers to new entrants with more efficient alternatives. The restrictions are also rent-seeking, allowing the competing sector to charge higher prices than would be if the technologies are allowed to compete on a level playing field.
It is also horribly hobbles our national competitiveness, at a time when governments worldwide are racing to connect their entire countries to the Internet. The Association correctly points out that many members operate in areas where telephone services are scarce and the operating telephone companies don't have the capacity to provide DSL. Having Cable TV operators as partners in the delivery of Internet services throughout the archipelago is essential to National competitiveness.
If your view of the Internet is reading online news, checking email from friends, and watching videos on YouTube, you may miss the reason why the Internet is so essential to modern economies.
For manufacturing companies, it is a way to keep in touch with the latest industry trends, a way to search for and communicate with suppliers and purchasers. For farmers, it is a way to study the latest agricultural technologies, a way to obtain accurate weather information, a way to identify markets and correctly price products. For service companies, it is a way to market services, and deliver those services to the global marketplace.
For students, it is a way to learn outside the classroom.
Think about the situation in rural areas, with hardly any libraries and educational materials around, then think about the impact of the Internet in a rural barangay (perhaps in the barangay hall or public school). Many schools in developed countries publish their educational materials online, free for downloading: With widespread Internet access, a student in Mindanao has the same access to materials as a student in New York, or Hong Kong, or London.
The CITC and DOST's promotion of the cooperative Philippine Open Internet Exchange makes it easier for SMEs to join and build our nationwide Internet (previously limited to large national operators). Encouraging more sectors to provide Internet services increases participation and promotes its success, and consequently the success of the nationwide technology corridor.
Now is not the time for the government to be limiting which sectors should or should not be providing Internet access.
Any sector, that due to advances in technology, can provide Internet, should not be restricted from doing so, either overtly or through the creation of needless restrictions.
Ten years ago, who would have thought that one could walk into a shopping mall with a laptop to get free wireless Internet? Who would have thought that in hundreds of cities worldwide, one need only turn on a laptop to get free wireless Internet?
Neither should the telephone companies be complaining, and myopically attempting to “defend their turf.”
Ask yourselves: If we let the cable TV companies provide broadband Internet services to areas we cannot serve, couldn't we then offer virtual telephone lines over the Internet via their infrastructure?
Revenues without capital expenditure. As many businessman will tell you, this is a good thing.
Just ask AT&T Vonage and Broadvoice: These companies offer virtual US phone lines registered as local in any city in North America to anyone in the world with access to an Internet connection.
Now, reverse the situation and ask yourselves: How many Filipinos worldwide would love to have a virtual local phone number in Manila (or Bacolod, or Legaspi City, or Cebu, or Baguio, or Davao) that they can access over the Internet wherever they are, be it in the US, the Middle East, Europe, or Asia?
Wired Magazine calls Filipinos “The World's Largest Virtual Nation,” yet we don't have anything close to “The World's Largest Virtual Telephone Network.” We should. Think of the Dollar and Euro revenue. Bling! Bling!
