Telco-ready buildings needed for connectivity

New buildings should be designed with dedicated spaces for telecommunications equipment, which could accelerate digital inclusion across the Philippines. A pending bill in Congress seeks to achieve this.

According to telco giant Globe Telecom, despite strong mobile connectivity, with over 120 million active subscribers nationwide, fixed broadband penetration remains limited to about 35 percent of households.

One of the hurdles is that many condominiums, offices, and residential units were not constructed with space for fiber lines, routers, and related information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure.

The design gap has constrained the rollout of reliable broadband services to millions of Filipinos, Globe president and CEO Carl Cruz said.

He added that embedding connectivity into building standards would put telecommunications on par with power and water as a basic utility in urban planning.

In the 19th Congress, bills were filed to amend the National Building Code and institutionalize the requirement for telco-ready facilities in new developments.

While the measures stalled, Globe believes they provided a necessary framework for ongoing policy discussions.

Recent reforms, including Executive Order 32 issued in 2023 to streamline permitting for telco infrastructure, have improved the pace of network rollout.

During the pandemic, the Bayanihan Law provided temporary relief on permitting bottlenecks that enabled faster deployment of sites.

However, Globe stresses that long-term solutions must extend beyond site builds to the very design of physical structures.

Updating the Building Code is seen as a structural reform that will institutionalize digital readiness.