The need for resilient, affordable and secure Internet access has become more pronounced than ever, as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced human connection and interaction to be digitized in all ways possible, to flatten the curve, so to speak. Millions of workers, including public servants, must work from home, and hospitals, schools, local governments and business operations rely on the Internet to avoid the least disruption despite the social distancing required by circumstance.
With the growing number of confirmed cases and deaths around the world, the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development adopted an agenda that outlines key policies and strategies to promote “faster and better recovery” through the Internet.
The Broadband Commission has identified the “three pillars of resilient connectivity, affordable access, and safe use of online services for informed and educated societies, to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and ease the immediate adverse impacts for economies and societies.”
- Resilient connectivity spells out the need for stable and secure infrastructure to support the daily requirements of vital services such as health care and other frontline services.
- Affordable access refers to price-reduction initiatives to ensure that access to digital services will be much greater for the population, and promote social cohesion through digital human interaction.
- The third pillar, safe use of online services for informed and educated societies, outlines the need for stronger safety and security measures for different digital services such as e-learning, e-health, digital agriculture, digital financial services, and Internet-based government services.
The agenda requires a cross-sectoral approach to ensure its success. At home, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the private sector are working hand in hand to ensure that digital initiatives in the time of Covid-19 are in line with the agenda.
Eliseo M. Rio Jr., an undersecretary at the ICT department, said the government and the private sector are now working on several projects to support the global Internet agenda. For one, he said, the two groups are developing a platform enabling quicker delivery of basic and critical services to the masses.
“The DICT is in fact working on a common platform that will integrate all vetted apps that are now working in silos, so that the compilation of data, including those generated by the apps of Facebook and Google, will become available in this platform that has among others a central control dashboard and a data warehouse. So frontline agencies can use these data for contact tracing, social amelioration, workers’ support compensation, etc.,” Rio said.
The government also encouraged companies to adopt work-from-home arrangements for their employees while the enhanced community quarantine is in place.
The government and private sector also developed RapidPass, a digital solution expediting the verification processes—made contactless—for frontline workers crossing borders and checkpoints.
Aligned with the agenda
Local telcos said they are following the guidelines set by the Broadband Commission, given the huge demand for Internet connectivity in these trying times.
“First, resilient connectivity is our first priority because we realize that the Covid-19 pandemic will generate extraordinary demand for connectivity while operators will face serious constraints on our ability to maintain our networks. So we have taken extraordinary measures to ensure service availability like locking down key network facilities and carefully managing the deployment of our field personnel,” PLDT Inc. spokesman Ramon R. Isberto said.
In terms of affordable access, the telco group has provided free speed boost for its broadband customers in Greater Manila for the duration of the community quarantine, and has also bumped up the data allocation for mobile services, he said.
“And we are providing for free a range of communications services—carrier-grade WiFi, mobile phone services, special messaging services—for the government agencies and their personnel who are at the frontlines of the fight against Covid-19,” Isberto said.
For the third pillar, Isberto said his group has partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Education (DepEd), and local governments to promote the safe use of online services for informed and educated societies.
“Our first initiative in this area was to make it easier for the public to access official information regarding the Covid outbreak. Correct information was critical. So, we started by giving free mobile data access to the websites of the Department of Health,” he said.
This was followed by the setting up of a hotline service for the DOH and for major hospitals like the Philippine General Hospital and other health facilities throughout the country.
“We’ve also set up hotlines for local governments in Metro Manila and different parts of the country. Moving forward, we are now working with the education department and individual schools in different parts of the country to help provide e-learning tools for the schools and their students. And in the thick of all this, we are also providing our customers access to information about protecting their mental health amid all the stresses and strains of life under lockdown,” Isberto explained.
For her part, Globe Telecom Inc. spokesperson Yolanda C. Crisanto said her group is aligned with the Broadband Commission’s agenda.
“The short-term, medium-term and long-term strategies outlined in the paper are already business as usual for Globe when dealing with disasters and which are equally applicable for health emergencies,” she said.
Globe, she said, may consider adding a new item in its future budget to mitigate the effects of emergencies.
“Moving forward it would look like a budget item would have to be reserved or allocated every year for emergency responses for augmentation of telco infrastructure, reserve capacity for free voice, SMS and data for health, educational content and government information. On the part of government, telcos should be given relief from payment of spectrum user fee in the form of prorated discounts in such fees and even tax credits for resources employed during a public emergency,” she said.
Too late?
Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos, the convener of the Better Broadband Alliance (BBA), noted that the agenda for action should have been a national priority even before the pandemic started.
“To be honest, it’s frustrating to see that what we should have started doing years ago—expand digital infrastructure, allow different types of players and technologies, create a digital connectivity policy framework, promote online platforms in government, push for electronic transactions—but didn’t, is now proving to be some of the most critical infrastructure and services that we need now,” she said.
Consumer group Democracy.Net.PH founder Pierre Tito M. Galla added that the national and global health crisis highlights the immense power of the Internet to bring critical services to the people. Thus, legislation and policies should be reviewed, amended and passed to promote better Internet connectivity in the country.
“[We] recognize and support in principle the proposals of the Broadband Commission, in light of our own push for ICT rights, governance, development and security. With we and our partners and fellow stakeholders supporting ICT reforms, such as Open Access in Data Transmission, we also believe in this timely recognition by the Broadband Commission of the role of ICT in crisis, disaster and pandemic management, response and recovery,” he said.
It is high time, Galla noted, that local policies be aligned with global best practices.
Winthrop Y. Yu, who chairs the Internet Society of the Philippines, said digital services should now become the new normal, most particularly for government services.
“We are now reacting in the midst of a crisis, but…we can and should be better prepared, particularly government. We are saying that e-government online processes should become the ‘new normal,’ the default. That, as much as possible, there should be a ‘no contact’ policy in government transactions,” he said.
Yu added that this practice will not only prove to be beneficial during the pandemic, but also during other emergencies such as national disasters. This, he added, will also streamline processes, reduce red tape and mitigate corruption.
“We hope that this crisis will push for more political will and a future-ready mindset in all of us. We want better Internet precisely because of situations like these. And we needed to do all the preparations, starting with a digital connectivity law, years ago,” Mirandilla-Santos said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Lorenz S. Marasigan
Quelle/Source: Business Mirror, 06.04.2020
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