Chiz urges NTC to
crack the whip on the internet speed row
By
Office of Senator Chiz Escudero
July 15, 2015
PASAY CITY – Senator
Chiz Escudero urged the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)
to immediately rectify the questionable set-up of routing internet
data to other countries instead of doing so on the Philippines’ own
unified internet exchange point as a simple measure to speed up
internet service.
“The NTC should start
cracking the whip and fix the system immediately. It cannot be
‘business as usual’ anymore. Let’s do away with the mentality of just
accepting the present situation and start doing something about it,”
Escudero said.
The senator said the NTC
should start by asking the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT),
the country’s largest telecommunications company, why it continues to
refuse to connect to the country’s own internet exchange facility
called the Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX) which was
developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) primarily
to allow a faster exchange of data among users.
“PLDT does not want to
connect to PHOpenIX. Instead, it connects to the Hong Kong Internet
Exchange (HKIX) through its private Vitro Internet Exchange (VIX). I
find this questionable because routing data overseas and then
terminating here in the country takes a lot longer than routing and
terminating data flow within the country,” Escudero said.
“Why doesn’t PLDT just
connect to PHOpenIX? PLDT is the biggest telco in the country. Its
sheer size, and the influence it wields in the information and
technology industry, could very well change the IT landscape
overnight. But by refusing to connect to PHOpenIX, PLDT is holding the
country’s internet world hostage,” he added.
The senator said PLDT
chooses to route data outside the country despite the availability of
PHOpenIX, which allows all-local data traffic routing.
Escudero also asked the NTC
to look into reports that PLDT refuses to establish direct peering
with telco competitors, saying this may be considered a monopolistic
business practice.
Earlier, the senator cited
recent reports by global internet providers Ookla and Akamai that
showed the dismal state of internet speed in the Philippines. The
latest Ookla household download index report ranked the Philippines
21st out of 22 countries in Asia, trailed only by Afghanistan.
“The problem is that
government agencies that are supposed to monitor these telcos and help
consumers don’t seem to feel the urgency of the situation,” he said.