A Misquote on VoIP

Inq7 reports that the Commission on ICT Chair, Virigilo Pena, believes that VoIP won’t have a great impact on the ordinary Filipino because:

“VoIP presumes access to a computer [and the Internet]. And if you’re running at 3-percent penetration rate, only a small percent of the population [has access] to VoIP. Yes, it’s right that there is false sense of expectation. Even if VoIP allows people abroad to make cheaper calls, not all their relatives have access to a computer,” Pena said.

He’s not serious, is he?  He must have been misquoted by the media because this is not a smart thing to say when you’re the Undercretary for Communications of the DOTC.  Look at his job description:

Advises and assists the Secretary in the formulation of policies and objectives pertaining to the Department’s telecommunications and postal systems;

Develops plans and programs in order to provide a safe, reliable, and efficient postal system;

Oversees all activities of the Department pertaining to the telecommunications and postal communications services for which he shall be responsible to the Secretary;

Assists in the guidance of government and private investments, development of our country’s communications systems in a more practical, expeditious and orderly manner; and

Perform such other function as may be assigned by law and/or assigned by the Secretary.

It’s impossible.  Given his job description, he must know that VoIP calls can be made even by people without a computer.  After all, PLDT itself offers outbound VoIP calls for 18 cents per minute to people without computers but only basic telephone service.  He must know this since PLDT is the dominant telco over which is office has jurisdiction. 

As a top government official in charge of communications, he knows that one of the key points of the NTC VoIP guidelines is interconnection.  If VoIP providers are allowed to interconnect to a telco’s local exchange, then anyone with a telephone (regardless of computer ownership) can make an international VoIP call.  Therefore, the three percent (3%) penetration rate he mentions is completely irrelevant. 

After all, he did make this astute observation:

“The bulk of VoIP calls are inbound to the Philippines,” Pena stressed.

He’s absolutely right.  Of course, he’s aware that this is because the government has maintained a regulatory system that prohibits local players from offering outbound VoIP calls without an expensive and time-consuming licensing process.  This is precisely what the NTC VoIP guidelines are meant to address — opening up the market so that ordinary folks can pick up the telephones already installed in their homes in order to make long distance VoIP calls to their loved ones overseas.

I must say I also agree with this last statement of Mr. Pena: 

He added that apart from technology, there is also a need to educate people about VoIP.

He’s hit the nail right on the head.  Many people do need to be educated about VoIP.

Let’s not forget that when he’s not acting as an Undersretary for DOTC, he’s a Cabinet-rank Chairman of the Commission on ICT where technologies far more complicated than VoIP are involved.  I hope he doesn’t get misquoted when he’s acting in that capacity as well.  But I guess that’s just a fact of life.