Digital connectivity continues to be a huge challenge because of the lack of access and insufficient ICT infrastructure. Some of the country’s geographical and archipelagic conditions might prove to be unattractive for corporate investments and/or are non-viable to land-based network installation. This uneven and underdeveloped digital connectivity engenders another layer of inequality, the digital divide. Addressing the insufficiency in terrestrial-based infrastructure and expanding digital connectivity across the country may be done through the adoption of satellite-based technologies.
This paper aims to contribute to advancing the consideration of the institutional framework for the broader adoption in the Philippines of advanced technologies especially satellites to narrow the digital divide. It seeks to further the discourse on the need to enrich the prevailing regulatory environment that would accommodate such ultramodern ICT innovation with brief descriptions of trends and applications of satellite-based technologies and discussion on the cost and benefits of and potential drawbacks in embracing said technology. Towards this end, the paper advocates for a robust policy and regulatory framework that would foster the extensive adoption of advanced technologies such as satellites, to ensure the expansion of digital access in remote areas, and to democratize opportunities put forth by digitalization.