University of Science and Technology

of Southern Philippines
Alubijid | Cagayan de Oro | Claveria | Jasaan | Oroquieta | Panaon

PROGRESS REPORT 1:
NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN GLOBAL
PERSPECTIVE

Submitted to:
LORYLIZA BULAY-OG D.Eng’g, PECE

Submitted by:
JADMAN, DIANIE
LIBRE, BRAUZ JEREVIN
OBLIGADO, DEVIROSE
QUITA, CHRISTY MAE

College of Engineering and Architecture

B.S. in Electronics and Communication Engineering
I. NBP Global Perspective

A. Europe and USA

Digital data via the internet is playing an increasingly large role in the lives of
citizens, government and business. For Europe to remain competitive in the global
economy, good levels of internet speed and access, as provided by broadband, are
essential. Broadband Europe promotes the European Commission's vision and
policy actions to turn Europe into a Gigabit Society by 2025. The Commission’s
strategy on Connectivity for a European Gigabit Society, adopted in September 2016,
sets a vision of Europe where availability and take-up of very high capacity networks
enables the widespread use of products, services and applications in the Digital
Single Market. It confirms and builds upon the previous broadband objectives for
2020, to supply every European with access to at least 30 Mbps connectivity, and to
provide half of European households with connectivity rates of 100 Mbps.
Furthermore, it calls for 5G connectivity to be available in at least one major city in
each Member State by 2020 at the latest.

As part of its Europe 2020 strategy, in 2010 the EU set three targets for
broadband:
by 2013, to bring basic broadband (up to 30 Megabits per
second, Mbps) to all Europeans;
by 2020, to provide all Europeans with fast broadband (over
30 Mbps); and
by 2020, to ensure take-up by 50 % or more of European
households to ultra-fast broadband (over 100 Mbps).

In order to support their objectives or goals, the EU has implemented a series

of policy and regulatory measures and has made some 15 billion euro available to
Member States in the period 2014-2020, through a variety of funding sources and
types, including 5.6 billion euro in loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The European Commission estimated in 2013 that up to 250 billion euro will
be required to achieve the 2020 broadband targets. However, the re-use of existing
infrastructure and effective implementation of the Cost Reduction Directive could
bring down these costs. The EU is an additional source of financing complementing
other sources of public funding (national regional or local) in areas subject to market
failure. In some Member States it can constitute the main source of public funding.

According to ECA analysis based on Commission and EIB data, for the 2014-
2020 programmed period, almost 15 billion euro, including 5.6 billion in EIB loans, is
available to Member States from the EU for supporting broadband, a significant
increase over the 3 billion euro for the 2007-2013 period. This represents around
6 % of the total investment needed. There are five main sources of funding
(see Table 2).

Table 2

Summary of funding sources for the programmed periods 2007-2013 and 2014-
2020

In relation to the expansion of broadband, the coverage of the NGA networks

(speeds > 30 Mbps) across the EU increased by 23 % between 2011 and 2015 to
reach 71 % of the population. However, according to the Commission, as illustrated
in Figure 4, the situation varies significantly between Member States with rural areas
generally lagging behind. There are only nine Member States (Slovenia, Cyprus,
Estonia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Netherlands, Belgium and Malta) where
both urban and rural areas reached an NGA coverage of more than 50 % in June
2015.
 Figure 4 - Next Generation Access Coverage, percentage of population, June 2015

With regard to take up, that is the subscription to broadband services, there are also
significant variances between Member States, as illustrated in Figure 5 below. In
2015 there are 10 Member States with both rural and urban subscription rates above
70 %: Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Malta, Denmark, Belgium, Germany,
Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Figure 5 - Household fixed broadband subscription rate, 2015

The European network of Broadband Competence Offices (BCO)

In November 2015, the Commissioners of DG CNECT, DG AGRI and DG

REGIO invited the Member States to take part, on a voluntary basis, in the setup of a
network of BCOs. The intention was for each BCO to give advice to citizens and
businesses and provide technical support to representatives of local and regional
authorities on ways to invest effectively in broadband, including the use of EU funds.

The BCOs were set up by the end of 2016. In January 2017, the Commission
set up a Support Facility which helps the BCOs in running events, workshops and
training seminars, as well as managing and moderating web-based forums about
relevant topics to the BCOs. The potential advantage of the BCO network is that
BCOs are able to deal with a wider range of issues and tasks, including policy
matters, than a technical specialist would be able to.

Broadband Europe showcases more than 200 successful European

broadband projects in a database of good practices. It also provides information and
guidance on investing in broadband development, technological solutions, business
models, financing tools and measures to reduce the costs of broadband deployment.

The country pages for each Member State provide information on

developments in broadband, the national broadband strategies and policies, financial
instruments, major projects, links to publications and contact information of
responsible authorities. The network of the Broadband Competence Offices supports
broadband deployment across the EU.

The Europe-wide competition for the European Broadband Awards aims at

identifying the most successful projects of high-speed network development.

Broadband targets in the USA

The Federal Communications Commission released the first-ever U.S.

National Broadband Plan. In early 2009, Congress directed the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to develop a National Broadband Plan to
ensure every American has “access to broadband capability.” Congress also
required that this plan include a detailed strategy for achieving affordability and
maximizing use of broadband to advance “consumer welfare, civic participation,
public safety and homeland security, community development, health care delivery,
energy independence and efficiency, education, employee training, private sector
investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation and economic growth, and other
national purposes.”
The Plan

Government can influence the broadband ecosystem in four ways:

1. Establishing competition policies. Policymakers, including the FCC, have a

broad set of tools to protect and encourage competition in the markets that
make up the broadband ecosystem: network services, devices, applications
and content. The plan contains multiple recommendations that will foster
competition across the ecosystem.
2. Ensuring efficient allocation and use of government owned and
government-influenced assets. Government establishes policies for the use
of spectrum and oversees access to poles, conduits, rooftops and rights-of-
way, which are used in the deployment of broadband networks. Government
also finances a large number of infrastructure projects. Ensuring these assets
and resources are allocated and managed efficiently can encourage
deployment of broadband infrastructure and lower barriers to competitive
entry. The plan contains a number of recommendations to accomplish these
goals. They include the following: Spectrum is a major input for providers of
broadband service. Currently, the FCC has only 50 megahertz in inventory,
just a fraction of the amount that will be necessary to match growing demand.
More efficient allocation and assignment of spectrum will reduce deployment
costs, drive investment and benefit consumers through better performance
and lower prices. Infrastructure such as poles, conduits, rooftops and rights
of-way play an important role in the economics of broadband networks.
Ensuring service providers can access these resources efficiently and at fair
prices can drive upgrades and facilitate competitive entry. In addition,
testbeds can drive innovation of next-generation applications and, ultimately,
may promote infrastructure deployment.
3. Creating incentives for universal availability and adoption of broadband.
Three elements must be in place to ensure all Americans have the opportunity
to reap the benefits of broadband. All Americans should have access to
broadband service with sufficient capabilities, all should be able to afford
broadband and all should have the opportunity to develop digital literacy skills
to take advantage of broadband. Recommendations to promote universal
broadband deployment and adoption include the following: Ensure universal
 access to broadband network services, create mechanisms to ensure
affordability to low-income Americans, expand the Lifeline and Link-Up
programs by allowing subsidies provided to low-income Americans to be used
for broadband, and ensure every American has the opportunity to become
digitally literate.
4. Updating policies, setting standards and aligning incentives to maximize
use for national priorities. Federal, Tribal, state and local governments play
an important role in many sectors of our economy. Government is the largest
health care payor in the country, operates the public education system,
regulates many aspects of the energy industry, provides multiple services to
its citizens and has primary responsibility for homeland security. The plan
includes recommendations designed to unleash increased use, private sector
investment and innovation in these areas. They include the following: Health
care, education, energy and the environment, economic opportunity.
government performance and civic engagement, and public safety and
homeland security.

That plan was mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009, known commonly as the stimulus. As a result, the US then became the
52nd country to develop a national broadband plan; in the intervening years, more
than 100 other countries have followed. In the USA, the National Broadband Plan
“Connecting America" was adopted in March 2010 and recommended that the
country adopt and track six goals for 2020:

At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual
download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload
speeds of at least 50 megabits per second by the year of 2020. Thus the
objectives did not include 100 % of the population and the targets specified
actual upload and download speeds.
The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest
and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service,
and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
 Every American community should have affordable access to at least 1
gigabit per second broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools,
hospitals, and government buildings.
To ensure the safety of the American people, every first responder should
have access to a nationwide, wireless, interoperable broadband public safety
network.
To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American
should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy
consumption.

By 2020, the goal was for 100 million households to have access to 100 Mbit/s
service. 200 million people had broadband in 2009 (nationwide, the average
connection speed was 3.9 Mbit/s), up from 8 million in 2000. But 14 million have no
access whatsoever to broadband.

An FCC survey, "Broadband Adoption and Use in America," gave the average price
of broadband access as $41/month, and said 36 percent those non-users surveyed
said the service was too expensive. 12 percent lacked skills, 10 percent worried
about "safety and privacy", and 19 percent were just not interested. One way to
increase access would be to provide a block of spectrum to service providers who
agreed to offer free or low-cost service to certain subscribers. One way to pay for
this would be to transfer $15.5 billion to a Connect America Fund for areas not
adequately served. This money would come from the Universal Service
Fund created for telephone service for individuals and Internet access for schools
and libraries. In addition, a Mobility Fund would provide funds for states to offer their
own broadband programs. Also, Digital Literacy Corps would help people learn about
the Internet in areas with low usage rates. And broadband would be added to the
FCC's Lifeline and Link-Up program to provide phone service to the poor.

Current State of the Broadband Ecosystem

 To understand how this transformation will evolve, it is important to
understand the forces shaping the broadband ecosystem in America today (see
Exhibit 3-A).

The broadband ecosystem includes applications and content: e-mail, search,

news, maps, sales and marketing applications used by businesses, user-generated
video and hundreds of thousands of more specialized uses. Ultimately, the value of
broadband is realized when it delivers useful applications and content to end-users.

Applications run on devices that attach to the network and allow users to
communicate: computers, smartphones, set-top boxes, e-book readers, sensors,
private branch exchanges (PBX), local area network routers, modems and an ever-
growing list of other devices. New devices mean new opportunities for applications
and content.

Finally, broadband networks can take multiple forms: wired or wireless, fixed
or mobile, terrestrial or satellite. Different types of networks have different
capabilities, benefits and costs.

Users benefit directly from the applications and content they access through
broadband networks. Applications help people purchase products, search for jobs,
interact with government agencies and find information related to their health. Users
also spend considerable time using broadband for banking, shopping, entertainment,
social networking and communication (see Exhibit 3-B).
 Today, 290 million Americans—95% of the U.S. population—live in housing
units with access to terrestrial, fixed broadband infrastructure capable of supporting
actual download speeds of at least 4 Mbps. Of those, more than 80% live in markets
with more than one provider capable of offering actual download speeds of at least 4
Mbps. Meanwhile, 14 million people in the United States living in 7 million housing
units do not have access to terrestrial broadband infrastructure capable of this speed.
Although housing units without access to terrestrial broadband capable of 4 Mbps
download speeds exist throughout the country, they are more common in rural areas
(see Exhibit 3-D).

On November 2009, according to data from American Roamer, 3G service

covers roughly 60% of U.S. land mass. In addition, approximately 77% of the U.S.
population lived in an area served by three or more 3G service providers, 12% lived
in an area served by two, and 9% lived in an area served by one. About 2% lived in
an area with no provider.
B. ASEAN

For a couple of years, the ICT in ASEAN has been doing a lot of progress in
many respects. At a large scale, as the ICT services exports got bigger and on
demand it becomes a component of total service export making it an important
engine of economic growth in the region. At the individual level, costs of internet
access and mobile subscription have fallen sharply in ASEAN Member States (AMS),
allowing greater connectivity for millions of ASEAN citizens.

There’s a lot of good impact on advancement of ICT in ASEAN. these include

the transformation of government service into a digital one, increasing employment
in the sector of ICT, and the increased awareness of cybersecurity to make people
safe browsing internet, and there’s a lot more.

Figure 1. ASEAN Fixed Broadband Speeds

Seen above are the rankings of the countries in terms of Internet Speed
based from Internet comparison site cable. Only three ASEAN country are above
11.03 Mbps global average internet speed.

Based on the current study the ASEAN country shown that it has been
growing a lot in terms of internet performance. One of the it’s country is
acknowledged because of their fast reliable internet access, affordability and
availability.
Singapore Broadband Plan

Singapore is a small island but an economic giant. It has been the most
modern city over a century throughout Southeast Asia. The country has become a
flourishing country that stand out in trade of tourism and a modeling to a country with
less developed industrial base. Singapore’s economy is impressive because it has
been ranked as most open in the world, 3rd least corrupt, most pro-business, with
low tax rates, their currently population is 5,873,831 the growth of population in
Singapore was for a long period fueled by immigration since the country is multiracial.
Country’s Speed test data from fourth quarter of 2016 to first quarter of 2017 shows
that the Singapore has won the fastest internet speed in the whole world. Singapore
fixed broadband and mobile speeds are continuing to improve with 18.1% to 16.4%
increases, respectively over the same period of time.

DOWNLOAD
FASTEST: View Qwest

View Qwest offers the fastest download speeds

over broadband in Singapore. Originally oriented
toward businesses, the company started offering
residential fiber in Singapore 2012. In 2014 they
become the first ISP in Singapore to offer 2
Gbps service and the company recently began
offering service in Oman and Malaysia.

UPLOAD
FASTEST: M1

The provider of the fastest upload speed over

broadband. M1 is the smallest of three
companies that provide both broadband and
mobile services in Singapore. The company was
the first to introduce fiber service in Singapore in
2010.

Source: ookla speedtest/Singapore

 The Government established the provision of public Internet access service to
encourage foreign participation in the industry, full ownership was allowed for
Internet access service providers (IASPs), and Internet exchange service providers.
After the liberalization of Internet Service Provider market, Info-communication
Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), has already licensed 49 public Internet
service provider and 17 Internet exchange service providers. But after the
liberalization of Internet market in become more competitive as the service providers
fought to provide the lowest price, making it hard for small ISPs to survive. In result,
lot of players pulled out of the market and only few of service provider actually
managed to survive.

In fact, Singapore has plan to expand their fiber broadband in Malaysia.

Improvements of infrastructure are coming soon enough with internet and mobile
provider the SingTel announcing plans to build a sub-sea cable connecting to
Australia and opening more connections to the markets of Southern Asia.

Malaysia’s Broadband Plan

Malaysia is a beautiful and diverse country with many highlights. The many
different regions, each with their own characteristic features, make this country the
perfect destination for tourists. They are place at 35th largest economy in the world
and their labour productivity is significantly higher than neighbouring Thailand,
Indonesia, Philippines Vietnam due to a high density of knowledge-based industries
and adoption of cutting edge technology for manufacturing and digital
economy. With a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the world's 44th most
populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in
Malaysia. In the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 mega diverse countries, with large
numbers of endemic species.

In terms of Internet connection. Previous First quarter of 2017, , Malaysia's

average internet speed is 8.9 megabits per second (Mbit/s), and shows a 40% year-
on-year increase in broadband speed; Malaysia is ranked 62nd place worldwide by
the Akamai State of the Internet Report 2017. The country's internet is one of the
slowest and most expensive in the world. The reason why they had a comparatively
sluggish internet speed in country at that time is largely due to infrastructure issues,
and other reason include a slower bandwidth, which is the range of frequencies
within given band used for transmitting a signal.

Over the years the Country rose 10 spots

and are placed at 26th Internet fastest speed
in the world with an average of fixed speeds
of 61.97 Mbps. Result was acknowledge by
the Speed test Global Index, said the
Malaysian Communication and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC) and are placed at 4th
place in fixed their Government has met its
promises to reduce the fixed high-speed
broadband prices by 25% by the end of
2018 and now Malaysians now enjoy
significantly higher speed at the lower price
rates.

Source: Speedtests Global Index October 2017

Malaysia start their National Broadband Plan in 2004. In implementing their

strategy of National Broadband they aim when it comes to Supply are; First, to build
Broadband for General Population that has incentives and facility-based
competition based on major technologies, USP programs roll-out (collective and
individual access), and has Average speed of 2Mbps. Lastly, High Speed
Broadband to Target capitals, Industrial areas and Development region, Public
Private Partnership arrangement for infrastructure roll out, and Speed exceed
10Mbps. On the Demand side they aim are; AWARENESS, Continuous government
and private sector awareness. ATTRACTIVENESS, to Enhance and promote e-
government, e-education, and e-commerce initiatives, Improve and align online
content strategies and activities, Leverage on development of traditional information
resources. AFFORDABILITY, develop initiatives to reduce/ Improve broadband
access cost (PC, subscription etc.), Widen community access facilities and
deployment.
Source: Mobile Network Experience Report | April 2019 | © Opensignal Limited

4GAvailability
Celcom won the 4G Availability award as
it was able to supply an LTE connection
to our users 86.8% of the time. Maxis,
however, was a close second with a
score of 83.2%. 4G access is already
fairly widespread in Malaysia. Four of the
five nationwide operators have 4G
Availability scores over 75%, and two
have surpassed the 80% mark. U Mobile
remains the only laggard with a score of
64.5%, but the operator has made
significant progress in the last six months,
increasing its 4G Availability by more
than 3 percentage points since the last
report.
 Download Speed Experience
Maxis still has a considerable
advantage in Download Speed
Experience with an average
connection of 17.9 Mbps, but if
Celcom continues its current
pace of download speed growth,
Maxis will soon face a
challenger in this metric.

UPLOAD SPEED EXPERIENCE

Maxis may have claimed the download
speed crown, but Celcom was the king of
upload speed in our measurements. It was
a close race between the two, but Celcom
emerged the victor with an Upload Speed
Experience score of 6.4 Mbps, compared to
Maxis's score of 6.3 Mbps. The two leaders
were well ahead of their rivals in this metric.

LATENCY EXPERIENCE

Maxis won our Latency Experience award with

an average response time of 47.2 milliseconds.
Latency is an often misunderstood metric that
can impact the consumer mobile experience in
many subtle ways. Lower latency connections
produce faster load times for web pages and
streamed video and can reduce the lag
experienced in real-time communications and
gaming apps.
II. National Broadband Plan in the Philippines

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 2016, President Rodrigo
Duterte directed the Department of Information and Communications Technology
(DICT) to develop the National Broadband Plan (NBP), which will serve as a
blueprint in the acceleration of the deployment of fiber optic cables and wireless
technologies thereby improving the Internet speed in the country.

Existing NBP of the Philippines

June of 2017, following plans of a partnership with the government, the

National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) would be opening its massive power
highway to accelerate the country’s internet on par with first world countries.

November of 2017, the Philippine government is partnering with technology

giant Facebook to build an "ultra-high speed information highway" that could be a
"game changer" in providing faster, cheaper, and more accessible internet across
the country.

February of 2018, The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP)

and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will
team up for the planned National Broadband Program (NBP) until the grid operator's
concession lapses. The two parties will "soon" sign an agreement to use the NGCP's
fiber optic capacity available for the implementation of the NBP. (via Rappler)

June of 2018, the government has signed an agreement with the National
Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the National Transmission Corp.
(TransCo) for using of spare fiber optic assets, vacant lots, tower spaces and related
facilities owned by TransCo, but it must be operated by NGCP. Which this means
the use of “dark fiber” in the NBP. Dark fiber refers to the unused portion of the fiber-
optics in the transmission grid which could be utilized to establish optical connections
among locations.
 August of 2018, the DICT has signed an agreement deal with the National
Electrification Authority (NEA) and Philippine Rural Cooperatives Association, Inc.
(PHILRECA) in tapping electric cooperatives as partners for middle mile connectivity.

June of 2019, as stated by the DICT, the first phase of the fiber backbone for
the National Broadband Plan (NBP) in the Philippines is set to be completed early
next year.

Plans and Benefits for the NBP of the Philippines

By virtue of Republic Act 10844, the DICT has become the primary policy,
planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the Executive
Branch of the government that will plan, develop, and promote the national ICT
development agenda, and enviably tasked with implementing one of the key
deliverables of the Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) 2011-2016 --- to craft and
implement a national broadband policy to accelerate broadband infrastructure
deployment and improve public access. Under the project, government will create its
own backbone of a digital highway, separate from what the telecommunication
companies are using at the moment. Aside from decongesting the present internet
traffic, it can also pave the way for a faster processing of government documents.

The vision is to have Open, Pervasive, Inclusive, Affordable and Trusted

Internet Access. OPEN, wherein broadband is developed through an innovative,
multi-stakeholder approach taking into consideration the emergence of policy and
regulatory challenges. PERVASIVE, complemented by emergent wired and wireless
broadband technology solutions wherein it is always available. INCLUSIVE, wherein
broadband is accessible to the society. AFFORDABLE, where it is financially-paying
for. And lastly, TRUSTED, where users can confidently use or access internet in a
secure manner.

The plan states that in line with this vision, the government will set policy,
regulatory, and infostructural interventions to spur competition in the
telecommunications and ICT industry. (source: Philippine Inquirer) And once it is
implemented in full swing, it can help reduce the cost and increase the speed of
internet connections in the country that’s because smaller telecommunications
companies and internet service providers can use the Dark Fiber Framework to
provide internet services for people and businesses such as internet cafes.
Under the project, government will create its own backbone of a digital
highway, separate from what the telecommunication companies are using at the
moment. Aside from decongesting the present internet traffic, it can also pave the
way for a faster processing of government documents, such as passing
confidential documents with the use of the internet. Also in the fields of education,
where educational institutions are practicing the use internet access as a tool for
learning. In the economic development, where a faster internet can be a gateway
to numerous broadband and application providers for the country. And lastly, in the
fields of healthcare, where it makes services more accessible, improve patient
results and have better monitoring systems for the patients. (source: SCABBTT
Feasibility Study).

How to Implement

In order to enhance the general Internet speed in the Philippines, the Department
of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) was created to implement th
e National Broadband Plan (NBP).

The Philippine Integrated Infostructure (PhII) is a project of P77.9 billion that

details the perfect network architecture of the country, beginning from global
submarine cable links to the national network In order to enhance the general
Internet speed in the Philippines, the Department of Information and
Communications Technology (DICT) was created to implement the National
Broadband Plan (NBP).

Implementation Plan

Planning is vital to create it much simpler to realize the project. To execute a well
coordinated intervention needed for the NBP initiative, stakeholders and the NBP pro
ject's spearhead need to synchronize their intervention through strategic planning an
d ongoing tracking of the goals made
  Approval of an issuance for the adoption and implementation of NBP
o The implementation of the project, including the policies and guidelines
, ensures that the implementation of the project is appropriate for the ef
ficient implementation and adoption of the plan. It is not possible to
interrupt or delay the installation and implementation of the wired and
wireless broadband infostructure owing to undocumented issue.
 Institutionalize governance structure for NBP implementation
o Policy making and other necessary procedures and approach to the
project must be overseen by an institution to provide synchronized
action and will be planned to fulfill the National Broadband Plan (NBP)
mission, the institution will also be held accountable for the safety and
any development of the NBP project.
 Develop and formulate overall work and financial plan
 Conduct of Feasibility Studies (FS)
o FS behavior will, among other things, determine the requirement and
regions of action where the state will install the broadband. It will also
determine the location-appropriate technology, taking into account the
landscape of the land. The FS will also provide a thorough evaluation
of the initiative, including the following,
1) Benchmarking of high-level estimates of costs,
2) Analysis of alternative versions for infrastructure projects and
desired components,
3) Quantification of advantages and revised hazards for scope
alternatives,
4) Briefings with government and private sector to map and agree on
objectives,
5) selection of strategy projects and advancement on implementation.

A Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of industry and government

experts will be formed during the preparation of the detailed network plans to ensure
proper coordination and non-duplication of the private sector's existing efforts to
deliver broadband services to our underserved and underserved areas.
  Preparation of Project Implementation Plan and Call for Proposals and
Public Bidding

o Provided with the details of the feasibility study and other requirements
necessary for the project, the call for tenders must be held in the initial
stage of the procurement process, irrespective of the source of funds,
whether from local or foreign government, from all branches and tools
of government, departments, offices and agencie including
government-owned and/or-controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local
government units (LGUs).

 Indicative timeline of activities per outcome

 Reviewing progress

o NBP monitoring can generally be divided into two parts: review and
track progress. Reviewing its progress every one to two years makes it
possible to make adjustments to initiatives, policies and activities so
that the achievement of the plan's objectives can be matched to the
level of current success as well as taking into account new
developments in the market or sector. Tracking will record the actual
and estimates of progress, and will be open, honest and FOI-
compliant.

 Connectivity

Internet speed in the Philippines is a long-term problem, the study shows that
in 2015, the Philippines had 3.4 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants,
lower than the 41.58 active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100, according to
the 2016 Annual Report of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable
Development.

Another study cited shows that 46% of Filipinos (about 103 million) use the
internet daily, while 30% use the internet once a week, 16% use it once a month,
and 8% use it less than once a month.
 Therefore, improving broadband quality and increasing usage to stimulate
economic activity is in the best interests of the country.

 First Mile Connectivity

The first mile is the same as the last mile. Service Providers often call the
connection between service providers and end users the last mile, or the first mile
from the perspective of an end user. The other end of the submarine cables /
backbone to the Philippines ' 7 landing stations is regarded as the first mile
connectivity. The Philippine landing stations can be used to support a stronger
connection throughout the country. A major milestone in the history of ICT
development in our country is the signing of the landing party agreement for the First
Cable Landing Stations of the Philippine Government under the Luzon Bypass
Infrastructure Project. This Taguig City landing station is said to provide a 2 million
Mbps (2Tbps) at least bandwidth that is nearly similar to the bandwidth provided by
the country's leading telecommunications companies.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines–The $250-million Southeast Asia-US submarine

cable system will provide Mindanao's city and island with the "best connectivity" with
a capacity of 800 gigabits per second (Gbps) in recent reports. The city is
Mindanao's first area to have direct Globe-US connection through Guam, Hawaii,
and California. The power feed equipment site opened in August in Barangay
Talomo will serve as the landing station for the cable system. The project of the
SEA-US cable system aims to not only provide faster transmission and better
connectivity efficiency, but more importantly, network resilience. The new undersea
cable facility can be used to prevent damage and interruption of internet connection
due to typhoons and other calamities.

 Middle Mile Connectivity

Middle mile is an industry term that describes the network infrastructure that
connects the local networks to the other network service providers.

The plan, part of the National Broadband Project of the DICT, includes the
establishment of new undersea cables from Luzon to Visayas and then from
Mindanao. These will complement existing undersea cables already in place and
also act as backup infrastructure, the project would increase the existing fiber
backbone of NGCP and Transco to 10,000 km from the existing 6,000 km backbone,
which could support the needs of small internet service providers, as well as improve
the overall internet speed and affordability all over the country, especially in remote
areas. Similarly, the DICT also signed an agreement with the National Electrification
Authority (NEA) and the Philippine Rural Cooperatives Association (PHILRECA) to
tap electrical cooperatives as mid-mile connectivity partners. The Department also
looks to have cable operators in the various parts of the country to serve as the last
mile connectivity.

The Luzon Bypass Infrastructure also provides the Luzon Strait submarine
cable systems with an international bypass route, which is prone to multiple
submarine cable breaks at the same time. The bypass route will provide direct links
from Luzon to U.S. and Asian internet hubs. The infrastructure will expand the
capacity available for the ICT projects of the government.

Seven point-to-point routes were identified for the pilot project in Benguet,
Tarlac, Pampanga, Batangas, Mindoro, Albay, Camarines Sur, Cagayan and Bohol
to test both the integrity of NGCP fiber optic cables and the latest technology in the
market for optical transport.

 Last Mile Connectivity

The last mile connectivity provides a link from and to the office or
house of the user. In the last mile technology, the signals are transmitted from
 the broad backbone of communication to and from the end user via any kind
of digital medium.

"Priority will be given to high population density areas where access to

broadband internet is very limited or not present”. To meet these needs, DICT said
the government will establish Philippine Integrated Infrastructure (PhII), consisting of
international submarine cable landing stations, national government backbone, and
the last mile network of access.

The last mile includes rural connectivity and network access to government
sites, public schools, state colleges and universities (SUCs), public hospitals and
rural health units, disaster risk and offices for disaster reduction and management,
peace and order units, among others.

Connection up to the 'last mile

In order to facilitate last-mile initiatives, DICT considers three options:

1. A service provider installs lines and provides internet services to end users and
the government has the option to share the cost of deployment

2. A service provider leases the use of lines and provides internet services to end
users

3. Government installs lines and provides direct internet service to end users.

DICT stated that the government will build submarine cable landing stations in
the country to "mainly provide bandwidth to drive government info structure
initiatives." Considering the investment needed for infrastructure, DICT stated that it
could enter into a public-private partnership or consortium-type agreement.

DICT said that by 2020, the PhII is expected to provide households with at
least 10 Mbps at a lower cost than today's P1,299 average per month. In the
implementation of the PhII, the government has allocated P77.9 billion for 2017 to
2020.
Middle Mile Connectivity

The Philippines is one of the few nations in the globe with conflicting
domestic fiber cable infrastructure, complemented by a nationwide
comprehensive digital cable microwave network. The backbone infrastructure
includes the Domestic Fiber Optic Network (DFON) of PLDT and the Fiber
Optic Backbone Network (FOBN) of Globe Telecom. In relation to this is the
national personal telecommunications network of the Philippine National Grid
Corporation (NGCP).

The Domestic Fiber-Optic Network (DFON) is the national grid fiber

optic network of the PLDT (Figure below), consisting of nodes linked by
terrestrial and submarine cable connections arranged with ten self-healing
loops and two appendages stretching to Palawan and Zamboanga. The
network provides national voice, video, information, and other broadband and
multimedia facilities to PLDT. The DFON loops also provide additional
segment path security for enhanced resilience to single and multiple fiber
breaks across the various sections, according to PLDT. To date, the network
of PLDT has an estimated aggregated circuit ability of over 7.0 Terabits per
second and involves global connections.

PLDT's Domestic Fiber Optic Network (DFON)

 Complemented by a terrestrial microwave backbone network and part of the
PLDT Group's 46,316-kilometer backbone and intermediate fiber optic cable, the
DFON is designed to deliver services to remote areas that the fixed terrestrial
transportation network cannot reach.

Globe Telecom operates and maintains various fiber optic networks which
includes three Fiber Optic Backbone Networks (FOBN, FOBN‐2 and TELECPHIL’s
National Digital Transmission Network) connecting the entire Philippine archipelago.
These fiber optic networks (Figure below) span a total of 12,000 kilometers,
configured in a ring, self-healing arrangement, and can be upgraded to 100Gbps per
wavelength as may be needed. To complement these fiber optic networks, Globe
also operates and maintains a network of digital terrestrial microwave synchronous
digital hierarchy (SDH) systems nationwide.

Globe Fiber Optic Backbone Network.

 The private telecom network of the National Grid Corporation (NGCP)
operates and maintains a telecom backbone to support electricity grid operation
throughout the archipelago. It comprises of optical (optical passive floor cable) routes
along high-voltage transmission lines and microwave radio hops connecting Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao through two (2) routes— through Mindoro in the West and via
Bicol in the East. This telecom core works at 2.5 Gbps (STM-16), 622 Mbps (STM-
4) and 155 Mbps (STM-1) capacity, according to NGCP's Telecommunication
Development Plan 2014-2015 (Figure below). NGCP also retains and runs an
external (transmission-line-embedded) telecommunications facilities for the optical
connections and its Power Line Carriers (PLC), telecommunications antenna towers
and radio "repeater" houses.

NGCP Telecom Backbone Network

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PROGRESS REPORT AREA DESIGNATION

DEVIROSE OBLIGADO NBP GLOBAL: ASEAN

CHRISTY MAE QUITA NBP GLOBAL: EUROPE AND AMERICA
BRAUZ JEREVIN LIBRE NBP LOCAL: PHILIPPINES
DIANIE JADMAN NBP IMPLEMENTION AND CONNECTIVITY