SBMA, PLDT team up to push Subic’s info, communications tech potential

SUBIC BAY FREE PORT—After lagging behind in the race to be a leading player in the country’s growing information and communications technology (ICT) industry, the Subic Bay Free Port is now poised to blaze a trail in the knowledge-based sector and catch up with the competition this year.

Armand Arreza, administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), said the agency is determined “on having Subic take the path to knowledge-based industries” by teaming up with telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) in various ICT projects in this free port.

“This would put Subic at the frontlines of the country’s information and communications technology sector,” Arreza said in a statement on Thursday.

“With PLDT as partner, the Subic Bay Free Port can now shift from labor-intensive to knowledge-based industries, guided by the emerging trends in the information-technology [IT] sector,” he said.

To seal this partnership, the SBMA and PLDT, along with PLDT subsidiary Subic Telecom (Subictel), are set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) sometime this month, Arreza said.

The MOU is expected to pave the way for tripartite collaborative projects that would benefit the Subic Bay Free Port’s ICT industry.

Arreza added that the SBMA wanted to ride the anticipated boom in the ICT industry, which some IT analysts said may grow by 30 percent to 35 percent annually, and could generate 1 million new jobs in 2010 alone.

SBMA’s partner Subictel said that the joint effort would basically promote this free port’s emerging IT capabilities and enable Subic to directly compete with leading ICT players like Manila, Cebu, Davao and Laguna.

“We would like to position Subic in the forefront as one of the newest choices when it comes to ICT,” said Subictel president Dennis Magbatoc.

He said the projects would bank on PLDT’s most recent ICT investments here that are worth more than P40 million. The investments are PLDT’s fiber optics cable linking Subic to Manila and the entire Luzon grid, and the P20-million Innovation Laboratory (Innolab) that Subictel unveiled last October.

The Subic Innolab, the fifth of its kind in the country, is designed to highlight Subic Bay’s IT and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as the available and soon-to-be-offered telecoms solutions for business-process outsourcing (BPO) operations, retail and  manufacturing businesses, and even the hotel industry.

Arreza said Subictel’s IT facility, which is located beside Subic’s famous Spanish Gate landmark, has been included in the itinerary for potential investors visiting this former naval base.

“With this one-stop IT center, the SBMA will get to showcase the IT aspect of doing business in Subic, on top of its other strengths, like strategic location, tax and duty-free perks, highly skilled manpower, superb support industries and infrastructure, and a highly secured and tourist-friendly environment,” said Arreza.

He added that when it comes to IT support, the Subic Free Port now “has everything and anything you need,” echoing the “fully loaded” theme of the Innolab facility.

To further encourage knowledge-based industries, Arreza also said the SBMA has approved the shift in Subic’s development program to vertical expansion.

This would allow the construction of tall buildings that could accommodate a full range of BPO and IT-related services like back-office outsourcing, software and games development, engineering design and digital animation Arreza said. Written by Henry Empeño / Business Mirror Correspondent

Prof Danny Piano, Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce President, Councilor Ed Piano, Chairman of Olongapo City Telecom and IT Board, and Hon. Armand Arreza talked about the latest in telecommunications in Olongapo City Subic Bay Freeport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTT2jCWf7Lw

Cyberspace seen to replace print media

By: Jess V. Antiporda - Peoples Journal

THERE is an uptrend on the use of digital media by advertisers and if this would continue the cyberspace could take over the print media as among the mediums being used by advertisers in product promotion.

In a weekly PAGCOR sponsored Kapihan ng Bayan Forum held at Daungan restaurant in Quezon City, Jones Campos, Public Relations Chairman of the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress, said digital advertising is slowly gaining popularity because of the popularity of social networking sites at the internet like Face book, Friendster, Twitter and the likes.

“Access to internet is so easy these days, unlike in the past wherein internet can only be access through internet café, offices, and homes but to date anybody can access the web through cellular phones, laptop and notebooks practically anywhere,” he explained during the PAGCOR sponsored forum.

Although he said that print media like the newspapers, tabloids, magazine remains third as the most popular medium for advertisements, there is a chance that the internet could come close to the print medium.

“If the uptrend will continue then we could feel changes within two to three years from now,” Campos explained.

ICTs are vital to disaster management–Angara

In times of calamity and disaster, information and communications technologies (ICTs) can be used to deliver basic services such as decision-support systems for the agricultural and rural sectors, and improve health-care delivery to poor and far-flung areas.

Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora province called on different stakeholders during the recent ceremonial launching of the Second National ICT of the Philippines (2nd NICP) Summit held at the Fort Stotsenburg Hotel here.

“The Congressional Commission on Science and Technology and Engineering [Comste] recognizes the significance of ICTs in delivering basic services…which also recognizes the need to implement these projects through public-private partnerships, where government need not spread thinly [and therefore ineffectively] already-limited resources and can tap into the varied and thriving expertise of the private sector,” Angara said.

At least 4,000 delegates are expected to attend the 2nd NICP Summit and Convergence 2009 from November 5 to 7 at the Fontana Convention Center.

The 2nd NCIP Summit 2009 and Convergence 2009 is a back-to-back event organized by the National ICT Conference of the Philippines and spearheaded by Clark Development Corp. (CDC), the Metro Clark ICT Council and Cyber City Teleservices Inc.

The two events be will be attended by a wide variety of sectoral members of ICT in academe, ICT-related business industries and related investment projects in the country, and is supported by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology. It is sponsored by Peregrine Global Gateways, ComClark, the Savers Group of Companies, Cyber City and CDC.

Organizers include the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Clark Investors and Locators Association, the Philippine Society of Information Technology and Educators and Fontana Leisure Parks.

“I am particularly glad that the 2nd National ICT Summit has asked me to speak on global ICT opportunities and supportive government policies on ICT. This is exactly how we work in Congress and in Comste: Finding ways to leverage global experiences, technologies and opportunities with our own assets and, at the same time, provide an environment in the government where both the private and public sectors of society can be competitive,” Angara said.

“When Congress created the commission in 2007, we immediately identified IT and IT-enabled industries as one of the major players in the Philippines’ struggle for global competitiveness, identifying the IT sector as an important ‘enabler’ of many other sectors in society, especially in science and technology,” Angara added.

Metro Clark ICT council chairman George Sorio said the event will also include track sessions featuring various CICT initiatives and talks from key players in the business-process outsourcing and information-technology industry and in recognition of the important role of the ICT in advancing today’s growing business activities here and abroad. Written by Jacob Cunanan / Business Mirror Correspondent

Rent-free locations in Subic offered

Rent-free locations in Subic offered
to Taiwanese high-tech firms


The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) will now offer rent-free locations to Taiwanese companies engaged in high-technology ventures.

Armand Arreza, SBMA administrator, said the incentive was agreed upon during the joint economic conference between Taiwan and the Philippines last week.

During the conference, Philippine officials led by Trade Undersecretary Thomas Aquino also forged an agreement with Taiwanese counterparts to grant Taiwanese manufacturers in Subic and the nearby Clark Freeport reduced tariffs under the Asean Free-Trade Area’s common effective preferential tariff scheme.

Under the agreement, the Taiwanese experts will also be sent to the country to assist in training integrated circuit designers.

The rent-free incentive, which will apply within the Subic and Clark free ports, will be good for three to five years and will cover firms that will each commit a minimum investment of $25 million.

Arreza said the inducement was meant to spur the entry of more high-technology firms in a bid to put up the country’s technological capability at par with major Asian economies.

“We’ve been pushing to attract companies in information and communication technology, software design, biotechnology and the like, and this new incentive is a concrete manifestation of our intentions to build our capabilities and be globally-competitive,” he said.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, there are now 79 Taiwanese firms in Subic, with total investment commitments worth $780 million. In Clark, eight Taiwanese companies have put up ventures worth $360 million.

Taiwanese are the second biggest investor group in Subic in terms of investment value, while Korean firms, boosted by the $1.6-billion shipyard project of Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp. came in first.

Arreza said that with the new rent-free incentive, the SBMA expects to realize its long-term “Cyber-Subic” program, which focuses on developing ICT facilities in Subic and roping in investors in the so-called knowledge industries.

He said that the agency has already reserved locations for ICT industrial clusters in coordination with the Subic Bay Development and Management Corp., owner of the industrial park where most Taiwanese firms at the Freeport are now located.
-- Katrina Mennen A. Valdez