A challenge has been aired by Makati City Representative Luis Campos, Jr. to incoming major telco player DITO Telecommunity, which has been on track for their eventual commercial operations this coming March 2021, to capture at least 30% of the mobile Internet services market share in the country.
“This is where the rubber meets the road for DITO, which the government enabled as the country’s third major telecommunications player precisely to fire up forceful competition in the market for Internet services. The government did not bring in DITO so that it will end up a minor player with a marginal market share of 10% to 15%,” according to Cong. Campos.
DITO Telecommunity has pledged to deliver Internet services at the rate of 27 Mbps covering at least 37% of the population on its first year of commercial operation. The new telco is expected to supply an Internet speed of 55 Mbps and cover up to 84% of the population in its fifth year.
The gentleman from the country’s financial district envisions the Philippines’ telecommunications market to be at par with Thailand’s — where three (03) large players are constantly racing to offer superior services to its customer base.
Thailand has the second-fastest average mobile Internet speed at 42.80 Mbps in the Southeast Asian region, after Singapore’s 71.32 Mbps, while the Philippines remains to have the second slowest average mobile Internet speed at just 18.49 Mbps. As a consolation, we are slightly ahead of Indonesia’s 17.45 Mbps according to the Speedtest Global Index.
Congressman Campos is the author of House Bill 7479, seeking to reclassify Internet access as a basic telecommunications service. The current Public Telecommunications Policy Law treats Internet access as a “value-added service” rather than a basic utility, allowing suppliers (telcos) to provide the service on their own terms.
Under House Bill 7479, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) must set compulsory deadlines for industry players to deliver faster Internet speeds to avoid paying a fine of PHP1M per day, or PHP365M annually until they comply.
As stated on the franchise issued to DITO Telecommunity, the government may seize its PHP25.7B performance bond and recall its assigned frequencies should they fail to honor its service commitments.