Mr Ivan John UY Chairman, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) The presence of broadband infrastructure, coupled with the country’s abundant and globally competi-tive workforce, were instrumental in the development of the Next Wave Cities, or cities ready to host the Information Technology- Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry. It is estimated that about 20% of the industry is now located outside the main metropolitan areas of Manila and Cebu and we expect this to con-tinue to increase. Excellencies, The expansion of Next Generation Networks (NGN) and broadband telecommunications infrastructure will encourage ICT usage, will improve ICT pervasive-ness distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. It is with great pleasure that I share with you how the Philippines has benefited greatly from the in-creased and will promote active participation of Filipino citizens as a member of the international community. We are glad to participate in the ITU Study on NGN Planning and Migration Strategies Case Studies to show what the Philippines is doing in terms of NGN. The mobile telecommunications sub-sector continues to grow as telecom operators have been deploying more cellsites and migrating their networks to 3G and 3G plus in order to offer high speed mobile Internet. We have seen the availability of more mobile handsets, even a local brand that bundled the mobile terminal with local digital content, including social studies-related deployment, adoption and use of ICT. The advances in ICT is very evident in the telecom sec-tor. As you know, the Philippines has adopted a pro-competition policy. Existing operators have invested heavily in the sector and deployed or expanded their network and are planning to do so for broadband serv-ices content and music. We have also seen the using several broadband technologies. They al-ready offer a variety of innovative broadband services, increasing preference in using the mobile phone as a payment mechanism for e-commerce. including pre-pay options and bundled services with PCs and laptops for first-time users. We believe that with public private sector partner-ship, the Philippines will continue to improve on its In terms of national broadband infrastructure, the Philippines is one of the few countries in the world that has a competitive fibre-backbone infrastructure. Around 80% of the country’s 80 provinces have fibre-based in-frastructure state of ICT. In line with the ITU’s Connect a School Connect a Community Program, We, the Philippine Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) has been implementing the Community eCenter (CeC) Program to increase citizen access to ICT in rural areas. A community e-center is a self sustaining shared of at least one operator and around 50% of the provinces have at least two operators. On the last mile, these operators are also aggressively building out their fixed wireless broadband solutions. 98