Telecommunications in the Philippines
The Spanish authorizes Eastern Extension to construct and operate the first submarine cable linking the Philippines and Hong Kong.
Permission was granted for a 10 km radius telephone network with bidding for the public works done in Madrid and Manila.
[2] The Philippine Islands Telephone and Telegraph Company is American-owned which started operations in 1905 in the present-day Metro Manila.
In 1932, the colonial Philippine congress granted PLDT a 50-year franchise to operate a national telephone system.
Which is why on November 7, 1967, the Philippines Telecommunications Investment Corporation (PTIC) was registered to buy GTE's controlling interest.
This led to the takeover of PLDT by the Filipinos, becoming a dominant player in telecommunications because of its authorization to operate a national network.
[3]: 110–113 The Corazon Aquino government's policy was two-pronged: it was to increase public spending in underserved or unserved municipalities, and allow entry of new players.
During the end of Cory's term however, telecommunications was poor but PLDT prevailed with their tactics in maintaining their monopoly.
The report revealed PLDT's questionable management practices as well as how the Cojuangco family controlled the company, despite owning only 1.6% of the total stock.
[3]: 232–232 As a countermeasure against PLDT's earlier attempts at refusing interconnection with its competitors, President Ramos signed an Executive Order 59 on 24 February 1993.
The Congress had already approved nine telecom franchise, their applications pending at the NTC for provisional authority to operate international, cellular, or value-added services.
Companies were allocated both profitable and unprofitable areas to ensure operational viability and the provision of rural telephony.
In 1994, Globe launched its digital cellular services, pioneering the use of Global System for Mobile Communications Technology (GSM).
Considered one of the most profitable industries, telecoms have emerged in the country due to it becoming a necessity and its product life cycle.
Anthony Salim is one of them, which is the biggest controlling stockholder of PLDT through Hong Kong based First Pacific Company Limited, which led him to establish and expand in the Philippines as a conglomerate.
This led to the Philippines has become the global capital of text messaging, which was a feature of the mobile phone that was ignored by other countries.
[19] Civilian logistical communication through SMS was an important part of the EDSA II revolt in 2001 that overthrew the government of President Joseph Estrada.
According to the TNS Digital Life Study of 2012, about 81% of urban Filipinos use the internet to keep in touch with their relatives abroad.
90% of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) belong to social media networking sites such as Facebook wherein they.
The use of a mobile phone for offers the cheapest way overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to send money or remittances to their families back in the Philippines.
Furthermore, in a study done in 2015 by the US-based Pew Research Center, 88% of Filipinos consider the internet good for education.
[30] Common towers or cell sites that allow co-sharing arrangements between separate telecommunications services is currently being rolled out across the Philippines.
The policy for common towers is meant to encourage a rise in investment activities and broad market-led development on the part of ICT providers.
