Philippines Telecommunications Sector: An Assessment of Policy Changes

The Philippines government has undertaken a major reform programme since the early nineties to accelerate the growth in the economy. It is also attempting to upgrade the telecom services and infrastructure. The government views the private sector as a major source of investment. In Philippines, unlike many other countries, the private sector was the dominant provider of telecom services until the early nineties. The service levels, however, continue to be poor largely because of the monopoly of a singly provider and weak regulation. Subsequently, the government introduced a number of reform measures such as greater involvement of the private sector in all segments of telecom service including rural telecommunications and mandatory interconnections amongst service providers. It has also attempted to strengthen the regulatory framework. This paper review the status of the Philippine telecom sector and the reform programs introduced by the government. It highlights the issues in the management of the reform program and compares it with initiatives in other developing countries.