To make the Philippines keep up with global commerce, Senator Bongbong Marcos said the next administration should prioritize faster internet and reliable telecommunications to
Marcos said the country’s next leaders should adopt a mindset where telecommunications, especially the Internet, is part of the Philippines’ essential infrastructure.
In a press statement Saturday, the senator noted that telecommunications has made all economies a part of the global marketplace.
“It was five or six years ago when the volume of commerce conducted on the internet surpassed the volume of commerce conducted face to face in stores, in malls and all of our more traditional ways of buying and selling. That is something that we must immediately recognize,” he said.
Marcos said the Philippines ranks among countries with the slowest and most expensive Internet services in the world.
The global average broadband download speed is 23.3 Mbps (megabytes per second) which is nearly eight times faster than the Philippines’ average download speed of just 3.64 Mbps.
“How are we supposed to conduct business on this basis? You and I all know that when it comes to a point where there is no Wi-Fi, we don’t quite know what to do with ourselves because we have to keep that line of communication going,” Marcos said.
“It’s simply something that we have not paid attention to and it is something that is weakening the ability of our businessmen to conduct business in this global marketplace,” he added.
He said the technologies exist, the skills that are required exist, and it is just a question of taking on the policy and the concept that this is important and an essential service.
“It’s not a luxury, it’s not for fun because this is the way that business is conducted in this day and age,” Marcos said
