As I was doing research on my SLR, I stumbled upon an article published in 1994 that described and evaluated the telecommunication industry in the country. The article entitled, "The Institutional Foundations of Regulatory Commitment: A Comparative Analysis of Telecommunication Regulation" was written by Brian Levy and Pablo Spiller and compared five countries' regulatory and investment environment. The Philippines together with Argentina, Chile, Jamaica, and UK were the subjects of the study.
Needless to say, the Philippines together with Argentina are in the losing end of the telecommunications spectrum. Dubbed as a 'rent-seeking presidential system', the Philippines regulatory history was characterized by, 'long standing regulation by commission with vague mandate, lack of political independence and modest power.'
Moreover the investment climate in the Philippines undergoes a political cycle wherein the amount of investment is determined by the winning political power in the elite. As a consequence, investments have been seasonal, poor and lacking.
Fast forward to 2010, and with the same political background much is left to desired. Telecommunication indeed has expanded and doubtless that investment has grown but it not so much that our laws have changed or that the politicking has stopped but rather the change was ushered in by the swift advancement in technology. Regulation has stayed the same but because telecommunication companies needed to keep up with technology, they are forced to invest more and provide more.
Paul Obmina, post #10
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