THE Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) appealed to the Local Government Units (LGUs) to cooperate in its campaign to accelerate the construction of cell sites in the country.
DICT secretary Rodolfo Salalima said in the 1st Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference media briefing at The Royal Mandaya Hotel Wednesday, April 5 that less established cell sites in the country is among the reasons why internet services in the Philippines remain slow and inefficient as compared to other countries.
He cited that since 1994, the country has only some 16,000 cell sites scattered around the country, a far cry from Vietnam's 70,000 and Malaysia's 85,000 cell sites.
"We are appealing to the LGUs to cooperate in this effort for the streamlining of permitting process for mobile communications providers to set up additional cell sites across the country," he said.
DICT Undersecretary also said that streamlining the permitting process by LGUs for service providers will help further improve the telecommunications infrastructure and will facilitate the provision of free public Wifi nationwide.
Salalima said the country has an average permitting process in putting a cell site is eight months, to what he described as long, waste of time.
"For me, eight days should be enough in completing the whole process," Salalima said.
The DICT, within the Duterte administration, intends to build one cell site per barangay.
ICT Davao president Samuel Matunog said the construction of additional cell sites is necessary in further improving Internet speed and access to the public.
