MANILA -- The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has partnered with China Telecommunications Corporation for the establishment of a submarine broadband infrastructure that will ensure faster internet connectivity in the country.
DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. and China Telecom Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Yang Jie signed the letter of intent for the utilization of the DICT’s existing cable landing station together with the latter’s submarine cable this Tuesday which coincided with the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country.
“DICT and China Telecom will assess the feasibility of coming up with a cooperative effort. Specifically, our country needs cable landing stations that are independent of Globe and Smart. For more than 10 years, our gateway facilities are controlled by Globe and Smart,” Rio said during the signing ceremony held at the DICT office in Quezon City.
The DICT official clarified that negotiations for establishing a cable landing facility with China Telecom were conducted before the selection process for the country's third telco player was undertaken.
Under the initiative, China Telecom’s international submarine telecommunications cable will directly connect the Philippines with Hong Kong and the United States. The facility uses optical fiber (fiber optics) technology to carry signal and digital data including telephone and internet traffic by way of a submarine cable stretching across the oceans.
“This is our first step in providing the foundation for faster and cheaper internet services for Filipinos. With this partnership, we are setting up our international gateway facility that is crucial for world-class telecommunication services,” Mislatel consortium spokesperson Atty. Adel Tamano said.
Meantime, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has declared Mislatel as the new major telco player in the country.
Mislatel, which is a joint venture of Udenna Corporation and China Telecom, committed to provide internet speeds of 55Mbps covering 84 percent of the population with capital expenditures of around PHP250 billion over a five-year period. (PNA)
