A statement given by the Better Broadband Alliance (BBA), discusses the decline of the Philippines’ global competitiveness rank, from 56th place last year to 64th today out of 141 economies. The decline is suspected to be due to failure of the Philippine government to adopt information and communication technology.

The drop of rank meant the Philippines wasn’t able to successfully create a stimulating environment for its citizens and markets in terms of productivity and money regeneration.

According to a study by the BBA and The Asia Foundation, the Philippines’ policy and regulatory framework is outdated because it is still using an analog policy rather than a digital one. BBA realized how the Philippines’ analog methods do not fit into the flow of today’s digital era, causing a struggle for industries to keep up with competition from other countries. This also results to 50 million Filipinos still offline, the country harboring the slowest mobile broadband connection in the world, unaffordable broadband services and how such services are unable to reach farther regions of the PH.

It said that increasing broadband penetration can help boost the country’s economic development, which is why the local internet speed lagging behind was a sign that policy reform has to occur to accelerate the performance of the nation’s economy.

The Better Broadband Alliance also calls on the Congress to pass laws that will update current policies and to take advantage of digital technology. There is a bill in process titled “Open Access in Data Transmission” which centers on a future-ready digital policy framework and to open the Philippines’ space to technological opportunities. The points stressed in this bill will help overall competitiveness in the Philippine industry, such as e-commerce, e-health, e-learning and even the government and private sectors.