MANILA, Philippines – Two Chinese companies have expressed interest to work with the government for a national broadband plan.

Information and Communications Technology Secretary Rodolfo Salalima told reporters at the 1st DICT Summit yesterday “two big companies” from China have approached the government for a possible partnership on the national broadband plan.

“Some Chinese suppliers have come to us already and one of my undersecretaries is weighing all options on what would be an efficient, effective broadband,” Salalima said.

He said a decision on pursuing a partnership could be made after President Duterte chooses which of the three options floated by the DICT on the national broadband plan would be implemented.

“The plan itself has been submitted to the President first week of October and we are waiting for the President’s decision which option the government wants,” Salalima said.

The first option involves putting up physical infrastructure in the countryside to serve government needs.

The second, meanwhile, would entail government building infrastructure including fiber optic cables which telcos could lease in order to provide services to far-flung areas with the amount of investment estimated to amount from P77 billion up to P199 billion.

Salalima said the government could utilize the fiber optic infrastructure of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines should it pursue the second option.

The third option would involve government competing as a third party operator.

During the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the government was looking to build a national broadband network with China’s ZTE Corp.

The plan was dropped, however, amid corruption issues.

A national broadband plan is being looked into by the current administration as it plans to promote greater access to internet services in the country.

To enable faster rollout of broadband infrastructure in the country, Mario Tamayo, senior vice president for network services at PLDT Inc. said in the same event there is a need for harmonization of national policies and local government regulations.

“We are calling for a national consensus to harmonize policies and regulations in support of building digital data infrastructure. We also hope to deepen understanding of our people, at the community level, how vital telecoms infrastructure are to our lives. When these facilities are damaged or stolen, this harms our welfare as surely as when roads and bridges are washed away,” Tamayo said.

For his part, Globe Telecom Inc. chief information and technology officer Gil Genio said there is a need to rationalize the permit process for the establishments of cell sites to allow telcos to enhance mobile services, particularly for data.

He said Globe has a backlog of 3,000 sites amid difficulties in securing permits from various local government units, homeowners associations and other government agencies.