The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) stated that there is a need to implement the national broadband network (NBN) project in Philippines to compete with its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
DOTC Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso III stated that the Philippines has already left behind in the race of establishing an e-Government and further delays in the implementation of the NBN would surely leave the country in the dust. He said that Malaysia and Vietnam have been preparing their broadband network roll-outs in 2007. The government is planning to build two state-owned IT backbones to create a cyber corridor in the country at a cost of US 800 million. One of the projects is the US 329-million NBN while the other is a US 460-million plan to build a satellite-based IT backbone for the cyber education program of the education department.
