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The national government will establish a $329-million
Internet broadband project to connect every segment of government in
the entire Philippine archipelago to each other, thus reducing the
cost of communication and reducing the need for travel.
The National Broadband Network (NBN)
Project aims to create seamless connectivity among all national and
local government agencies down to the barangay offices of local
government units (LGUs). This will enhance the delivery of services
to the people by cutting short the time used for waiting for
decisions and replies to queries.
The expenses for travel will also
decline, since the need for person-to-person follow-up will be much
reduced by fast and efficient Internet broad-band access between
government officers through their computers.
It is also expected to benefit
government offices and the LGUs by immense cost savings generated by
the disappearance of inefficient and antique communications systems.
Broad-band will allow Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) dialogues
through the Internet.
In 2005, then Department of
Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Romulo Neri, now NEDA
secretary, issued DBM Budget Circular No. 2005-13, encouraging all
government departments and agencies to use Voice over Internet
Protocol, or VoIP, as their telecommunications medium of choice and
aim for a 30-percent reduction in their overall communication costs.
This reduction amounts to P170 million a year.
An earlier report by Commission
on Audit showed that 50 percent of the departments registered
increases in their telephone landline expenses; 80 percent had an
increase in telephone mobile expenses and 65 percent had an increase
in Internet expenditures from 2003 to 2004.
The NBN project will be financed
through an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan from China and
is estimated to be implemented over a period of three years, with an
estimated project life of at least 15 years. The implementing agency
is the Department of Transportations and Communication and the
Telephone Office (Telof).
The National Broadband project
was conceptualized in view of the Cyber Corridor initiative
highlighted by the President during her July 2006 State of the
Nation address, which will serve as the comprehensive solution for
fast-tracking national ICT development as envisioned in the Cyber
Corridor program, particularly for the provision of ICT and digital
infrastructure to address the digital divide.
As provided in the Medium-Term
Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP 2004 to 2010), the NBN project is
consistent with the government’s thrust such as developing the
country’s digital infrastructure to provide more public access
points for delivery of e-Government services; adoption of voice over
Internet Protocol as alternative means of communications that could
reduce cost of connectivity and rationalization of existing
government network infrastructure to enable sharing and
interconnection of network resources among branches of the
government to facilitate seamless transfer of knowledge within the
government.
Controversies
However, the project was hounded
by controversies when Amsterdam Holdings Inc., the original
proponents of NBN, threatened to sue the government after the DOTC
awarded the project to a Chinese firm, ZTE, just weeks after it
submitted all the necessary documents.
Amsterdam Holdings, which also
has a Chinese partner that is said to be a much bigger and more
experienced project manager and investor than ZTE, is disputing the
government’s decision to shunt it aside.
“We are preparing for all the
legal options. As long as we see that we have the better proposal,
we will follow the process for pursuing the project,” Adrian S.
Sugay, AHI legal counsel said.
Elmer A. Soneja, DOTC assistant
secretary said AHI had failed to submit a “complete proposal”
including a complete feasibility study, company profile, list of
completed works and latest financial statements, to comply with
Section 10.5 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the
build-operate-transfer (BOT) law.
Soneja also said AHI failed to
disclose its financial and technological partners, making it
impossible for the DOTC to determine its financial and technical
capabilities.
Marinelle B. O’Santos, AHI
legal counsel, debunked Soneja’s claim that her company failed to
comply with requirements under BOT.
“As far as we are concerned we
have complied with all the requirements, including the technical
studies and feasibility studies. We were not informed that we lacked
any requirements until recently,” O’Santos said.
AHI estimated the cost of the
broadband project at $240 million to be constructed under a BOT
arrangement.
O’Santos also claimed that
AHI’s proposal is better than what the government approved.
The conflict is ongoing. And The
Manila Times would like to get to the bottom of it.
What it does is highlight the
importance of Broadband Internet as indicated by the government’s
own decision to set up its own platform for it.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
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