For now, we don't know what we are getting for $329M because the bill of materials is not appended to the available copy of the contract. It only states broadly that this money is for the design, supply, construction, testing, installation, and commissioning of a broadband network for the Philippine government.
Anyways, whatever this beast costs, it's a big SLAP IN THE FACE TO BE TOLD THAT WE DON'T HAVE THE HOMEGROWN TALENT TO DEVELOP OUR BROADBAND NETWORK. (It's also ironic given that 2/3 of our GDP comes from the test and assembly of cutting edge communications IC, but that's another story.)
I mean frigging come on! That amount of money is better invested into our DOST and the National Science Institutes. Let them have a go at designing and installing this network. It can be done and Pinoys can do it.
Some smart guy named Ramon Sales spoke at the senate hearing about how the government spends P4B a year in telecoms costs and brilliantly computes that for 20 years, this adds up to P80B. The ZTE deal he says will save P17B.
Two things:
1. The cost of data transmission (bandwidth) has actually been going down for the last two decades, hello. Of all the technologies out there, telecommunications and computing have experienced the fastest growth rates. Not only are they getting ridiculously better every 18 months, they're also getting half as expensive. If we spend P4B this year, we stand to spend less the following year. Obsolescence is not so much of a problem as successive product lines are backward compatible. I'm telling you, upgrades are dirt cheap. (If you bought a laptop 5 years ago, chances are it's nearly twice as expensive and not even a quarter as powerful as your current one.)
2. This contract stipulates that any Intellectual Property arising from the design, installation, and maintenance of the network remains property of the contractor. So after 20 years, we practically end up with nothing and have to start all over again as opposed to developing our own system where we own all the IP rights which we can expand ad infinitum and make commercially profitable. Let me tell you a little secret: for every cellphone you buy, you are giving a small company outside Cambridge $0.05. This is big money given that around 800M mobile phones are made each year. This company doesn't make components for your cellphone, it doesn't assemble your cellphone, and it's not even remotely involved in the supply chain. It merely owns the IP rights to the design of a small area no larger than a one-centavo coin on the chip that runs the phone.
PS. Do you really want to give $329M to a company who ALSO gets its copy of the contract STOLEN(?) and doesn't have a soft copy anywhere???? Eto????? Gagawa ng broadband link eh ni mag-back-up ng data hinde magawa???? Shet. Kagaguhan. Paano isinulat ang contract? Sa typewriter?? Eh aanhin pa ang broadband network kung walang data na ita-transmit. Fota, kalokohan.