Globe Telecom Inc. is supporting bills filed in the Senate, especially those that refer to the adoption of a nationwide mobile number portability and streamlining of the permitting process for cell sites to improve efficiency of telecommuting.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, has authored several proposed measures directly affecting the telecommunications industry that will speed out the rollout of telecom services in the country, improve speed and service of the internet, and lower the cost for the consumers.
“We have always taken the position that government support is indispensable in enhancing the country’s ICT capacities, which is vital in growing the economy,” Globe general counsel Froilan Castelo said.
“We hope that any move to reform the telco industry should include formulation of policies that would fast track the development of the ICT industry as a whole to further boost economic development,” he added.
He pointed out that GSMA reported in October 2016 that the mobile ecosystem in Asia Pacific, consisting of network operators, infrastructure service providers, retailers and distributors of mobile products and services, handset manufacturers and mobile content, application and service providers, maked a significant contribution to their respective economies in terms of economic growth, job creation and public funding.
According to GSMA, the total value added generated by the mobile ecosystem was around $440 billion (or 1.8 percent of gross domestic product) with network operators accounting for well over half of this total.
In addition, the use of mobile technology also drives improvements in productivity and efficiency for workers and firms. GSMA estimates that productivity impacts were worth around $737 billion in 2015 (or 3 percent of GDP).
“Overall, taking into account the direct, indirect and productivity impacts, in 2015 the mobile industry made a total contribution of $1.3 trillion to the Asia-Pacific economies in value added terms, equivalent to 5.4% of the region’s total GDP,” GSMA added.