Post COVID telco service

The coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 lockdown made the need for dependable digital connectivity painfully clear. It is dreadful to imagine how things might have been if we didn’t have internet service at all.

True, things could have been better. But third world as our broadband connectivity is, we were able to work from home and watch Netflix. Even ABS-CBN was able to air its TV Patrol digitally after its free TV service was shut down. The COVID lockdown should make us hasten our digital transformation.

Last week, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez suggested that we do a mass recruitment of jobless Pinoys for contact tracing as part of our COVID response. To some, that is so Third World.

Other countries are using mobile apps to do contact tracing more efficiently and safely with no human contact. Reuters reported that Singapore pioneered contact tracing via Bluetooth with an app called TraceTogether. Israel has also rolled out an app called The Shield. India also has an app.

“South Korea is using mobile phone location data for contact tracing, while Taiwan uses it for quarantine enforcement and is also developing an app. China is employing a range of app-based tracking systems. No country is known to have required an app, but workplaces or other facilities could end up mandating usage.”

Then again, Sec. Sonny has a good reason for preferring feet on the ground. Generating jobs by hiring people to do contact tracing helps jump start consumption in our consumer-based economy.

The apps are there. There is even an app approved by the IATF, according to DICT Usec Eliseo Rio Jr. But when I asked telecom specialist Grace Mirandilla Santos, she expressed doubt the digital option is seriously available.

“I’ve been to several provinces where even the municipal governments do not have decent internet. Lucky if a health facility or barangay is near the city center. But otherwise, the LGU and public sector facilities rely on spotty mobile data lang. How do we expect them to collect and submit data without internet?”

Grace explained how a mobile app, a digital solution to COVID contact tracing, can work:

“The apps will record where the app user goes, date and time. The user can record possible exposure, hospital visits, or if he becomes a COVID patient. Others who also use the app will be alerted if they go the same location, date and time where a COVID patient went.

“Contact tracing and the barangay-level data required by DILG from LGUs are two reasons why we’re pushing for immediate connectivity solutions. Real-time data collection and sharing won’t work with poor connection.”

Grace is at the forefront of The COVID Action Network, made up of civil society organizations and youth groups. They have highlighted the important role of internet connectivity in dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic beyond just contact tracing.

They have called on the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), to put in place immediate solutions for expanding internet coverage and helping ease broadband network rollout.

“The internet can provide real-time information for decision-making to fight COVID-19, and it allows people to work from home (WFH), use e-commerce platforms, avail of telehealth services, communicate with friends and family, among other things.

“For both the government and the general public, access to the internet means access to applications and technological solutions for mobile banking and digital payments, making social protection program transfers quick, costless, traceable, and transparent,” Filomeno Sta. Ana III of one of the groups in the network stated.

They are calling on the IATF to instruct the DICT to procure, on an emergency basis, the services of internet Service Providers (ISPs) to install facilities and provide internet services using any type of technology to establishments such as hospitals, quarantine/isolation facilities, health centers, city/municipal halls, and barangay halls.

 The civil society network also wants government to work on long sought for reforms in the telecom industry. They are calling on IATF to recommend to the President the issuance of policies that lower market entry barriers to encourage more investment for a robust digital infrastructure.

“The President must issue an Executive Order that allows ISPs and value-added service providers to connect directly to international satellites for broadband connectivity, and mandates tower and passive infrastructure sharing. This must be implemented especially for the unserved and underserved areas in the country,” they explained.

“We cannot succeed in our fight against COVID-19 unless we address the issues surrounding the country’s internet coverage and quality of service. This is the most opportune time for the government to legislate the proposed Open Access in Data Transmission Act, and work on amendments to the Public Telecoms Policy Act that are pending in Congress.

“As we establish the ‘new normal’, pervasive, secure, and affordable internet will be vital to keep everyone connected with their family, work, school, business, and the rest of the world,” they said.

Usec Rio is hopeful the DICT’s National Broadband Network project designed to connect all government offices nationwide will provide that connectivity. But NBN just provides the main highway, so to speak. We still need the middle and last miles to be connected as well. That’s where the telco duopoly comes in.

“Are we to assume that PLDT and Globe would all of a sudden want to distribute the bandwidth to the unserved and underserved areas for the government? Besides, the duopoly each has its own landing station, backbone and distribution networks. So they could do that now without the NBP, if they wanted to…  

“The middle mile and, sometimes, last mile, are the missing piece in the NBP. Unless government pushes for policy to open up these segments, Filipinos can’t expect to benefit from the NBP in many years to come,” Grace concluded.

The COVID experience should spur us to move faster in our digital transformation. Unfortunately, it is easier for the new normal to end up being just same same.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco