ZTE can still bid for NBN

Controversial Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp. can still join the bidding for the proposed national broadband network (NBN) of the Aquino administration once the government decides to pursue it, Science Secretary Mario Montejo said yesterday. Montejo, however, said he would prefer that ZTE not participate in the Philippine government’s NBN project due to the Chinese firm’s involvement in the anomalous $329-million contract with the previous administration. Montejo noted ZTE is the world’s second largest supplier of telecommunications equipment. The Chinese firm had been involved in the alleged overpricing of the NBN contract with the Philippine government under the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. “We still have to submit our project to the Cabinet and the President. Actually I don’t know ZTE. Their project before is wireless; this (government broadband network) is wired. I don’t know if they also have the technology for fiber optic,” Montejo told a weekly media forum at the Diamond Hotel in Malate, Manila. Asked if the government would still allow ZTE Corp. to participate in the bidding for the broadband project, Montejo said he is hoping the Chinese telecommunications firm would refrain from doing so. “I hope they will not join… that is only a wish, I don’t know if we can enforce it,” he said. Montejo revealed there are other companies who have expressed interest in the government’s broadband project but there were no formal agreements yet. Montejo also defended the capability of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to implement the government broadband project. He shrugged off criticisms that the DOST was favored by President Aquino to implement the project over the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) because he was a brother-in-law of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. “We have the right people to handle it,” Montejo said. “Actually one of the agencies of the DOST, the ASTI (Advanced Science and Technology Institute), is also into communication. It’s been there for 20 years, even before 10-15 years ago ASTI was developing our own satellite, there are also some talks to revive it… so definitely we have the right people for communication,” he said. To prevent a repeat of the NBN-ZTE scandal, Montejo said they are looking at entering into a five-year contract with private firms to allow immediate replacement for unsatisfactory performance. “Broadband is definitely a necessity,” Montejo said, stressing this would improve government services. “Through ICT (information and communications technology), you can get NBI clearance, PhilHealth, birth certificate,” he said. Montejo said the DOST study is looking into different approaches, such as using existing yet under-utilized government fiber-optic and other assets; bidding out to the private sector the opportunity to co-develop these assets and maintain a broadband infrastructure, and exploring innovative ways on how the government can possibly leverage these assets in dealing with existing commercial broadband network operators to achieve its goal of a cost-efficient, high-speed, high capacity broadband. “The DOST study is considering the use of existing government fiber optic assets and microwave facilities that are currently underutilized to serve as backbone for a possible government broadband infrastructure,” he said. Montejo said the facilities can be found in existing National Transmission Corp. (Transco) transmission lines, MRT and LRT transmission lines, and TELOF (Telecommunications Office) lines that are laid all over the country. He said the DOST is likely to submit its study to the President by the end of the month. “To ignore these underutilized assets is not sound economics. While other countries are presently toiling to lay their fiber optic network for broadband use, we have an extensive fiber optic network already in place that has tremendous capacity potential but which remains untapped and underutilized,” he said. The DOST is also looking at the private sector to support and maintain the broadband infrastructure, Montejo said. He said it would take them one year to implement the broadband project in Metro Manila. “Definitely, the private sector would normally always run these things better. That is why we see them playing a key role in this possible undertaking. We have made prior consultations with all the major telco players and heard no objections so far,” Montejo said. “They are even excited about the prospects of a government network increasing the overall broadband use in the country with the addition of potential capacity coming from the untapped fiber optic assets of government,” he said. Last week, party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna and former Gabriela congresswoman Liza Maza filed new plunder charges against Arroyo before the Office of the Ombudsman for her alleged involvement in the cancelled NBN-ZTE contract in 2006. The latest complaint over the NBN-ZTE deal was the sixth plunder case filed separately at the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the former president now Pampanga representative.