PH eyes tie-ups with Chinese IT firms

The Philippines is considering  possible partnerships with China’s technology giants for the proposed revival of a national broadband network (NBN), a move seen in step with recent warming ties between Manila and Beijing.

Rodolfo Salalima, secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), on Tuesday said “two big companies” in China have already approached the DICT. A DICT official confirmed that these companies were ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., both based in Shenzhen, China.

“Some Chinese suppliers have come to us already,” Salalima told reporters at the sidelines of the first ever DICT Summit in Makati City.

The last attempt to build an NBN was a $329-million (P16-billion) project with ZTE. This was ultimately scrapped due to corruption issues during the Arroyo administration.

Salalima earlier said the “north to south” NBN could cost anywhere from P77 billion to almost P200 billion and could take three years to complete.