Faster internet possible, says Globe

Industry giant Globe Telecom said it had sufficient bandwidth to provide better quality internet in the Philippines—but noted it could only use a fraction of the amount, as regulatory bottlenecks such as burdensome permits prevented it from quickly rolling out crucial infrastructure.

Globe said in a statement Friday that it could activate over 16 terabits per second of international bandwidth, which it noted would “satisfy the market’s hunger for faster internet services.”

The figure was much larger than the 2 Tbps combined capacity that government regulators said was available from Globe and main rival PLDT Inc.

Despite the high figure, Globe noted it could only use “less than” 3 Tbps, or just 19 percent of the available figure.

This is due to insufficient “last mile” infrastructure—the part of its network that Globe needs to build to directly connect to users, homes and businesses.

In its statement, Globe highlighted its long-running issue over the large number of permits needed at the local government unit level, and the slow pace of processing. The telco also cited inconsistent fees and property tax issues.

“Our biggest hurdle in delivering consistently good internet [service] is the cumbersome number of permits and right of way issues that prevent us from building the last mile connectivity that would allow world class internet services to be enjoyed by the ordinary household or any person using a mobile phone,” Globe CEO Ernest Cu said in a statement.

“We have repeatedly called on the government to help address these issues that are prevalent at the local government level. Now with more people adopting to internet use much faster than the infrastructure can be built, then the problem gets exacerbated,” he added.