MANILA — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Monday said it is studying a shared radio spectrum policy to pull down internet and telecommunication rates in the country.

Under the proposal, each telecommunication tower will only be equipped with a single  radio unit that can host all telco frequency, DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said during the Philippine Economic Briefing in Pasay City.

“Ang pinakamalaking cost ngayon is spectrum fee. Mas malaki pa ngayon yung binabayad na spectrum fee kaysa sa capitalization. Every year, daang bilyon ang binabayaran nila,” he told ABS-CBN News on the sidelines of the forum.

“Confident kami na kapag nagawa ito ay mababawasan ang dead spots, mumura at hindi lang yun, dadami din yung infrastructure investments sa buong Pilipinas kasi nga yung natipid mo sa capitalization puwede mong iinvest sa ibang bagay,” he said.

(The biggest cost now is the spectrum fee. The spectrum fee is heftier than their capitalization. Every year, telco companies spend hundreds of billions for it. We are confident that if we implement this policy, we can reduce the number of dead spots, pull down the cost of telco services and boost infrastructure investments because companies can use their savings in capitalization for other projects.)

The rationalization of telco spectrum is being discussed with the Private Sector Advisory Council, the DICT official said.

“We are confident that within this year we will be able to come up with a plan and then hopefully after we push that out… It will translate into another one year or two years bago mo maramdaman yung pagreduce ng presyo ng telecommunications at pagbilis ng internet,” he said.

(It will translate into another year or two before you can feel the reduction in telecommunication rates and faster internet speeds.)

Regulators and stakeholders are looking for ways to find a consensus to ensure that no party would be on the losing end of the proposed scheme, he said.

The Philippines has been pushing to liberalize its telecommunication industry as several investors cite spotty internet connectivity and expensive service rates as among the reasons why they are hesitant to do business in the country.