MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) is rushing to come out with the guidelines to govern the rollout of digital television in the country before the current administration ends its term.

The agency said it was still waiting for the prices of set top boxes, which were needed for digital TV, to go down before making its decision.

?The Philippines is still in the evaluation stage,? CICT Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua said.

?We still don?t know which standard to follow. It?s a matter of seeing which standard is most compatible with the Philippines,? he said.

The planned rollout of digital TV in the country has been hanging for years due to delays in deciding on which international standard to adopt. The government has been choosing between the Japanese and European digital TV standards, being the two most compatible applications for an archipelago like the Philippines.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which regulates TV networks in the country, earlier chose the European standard, but later changed its mind.

The NTC is an agency attached to the CICT which, in turn, reports directly to the Office of the President.

Digital TV signals are able to compress data more efficiently and bring higher quality pictures and sounds on air.

However, to be able to receive digital signals, set top boxes are needed on each TV set. TVs in the country today are able to receive only traditional analog signals.