PH in a good location to be a data center hub: DICT

MANILA — The Philippines needs to capture what Information and Communications Technology Secretary  Henry Aguda described as the “next oil”— data.

At the 3rd Telco Forum organized by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), Aguda said the country is positioned to become a data center hub of the region because of the country’s strategic location and ongoing economic reforms.

READ: Biz groups working with ARTA to speed up business permit reform

He said fiber optics pass through the Philippines linking Asia with the US and other parts of the world, without having to pass through conflict zones like the Middle East.

“If you go by the geography of the Philippines, we straddle the Pacific and the ASEAN side of the ocean. We’re in between. There’s no way for them to go through the equator without going through Luzon or Mindanao,” Aguda said.

“If there’s Hormuz Strait for oil, there’s the Philippines for the next oil- which is data,” he added, saying this adds opportunities for transit toll revenues.

Aguda said the conflict has challenges and opportunities for the country, and one opportunity is in the data center business.

“Because of the conflict regions, they are now looking for a new place to locate their data and guess where they’ll locate it in. It’s going to be the Philippines,” he said.

They are also reviewing a data sovereignty act and a data embassy policy to entice foreign companies to store their data in the Philippines, which has a growing data center industry. Currently, the Philippines has about 200 MW capacity of data centers.

The DICT chief added: “Meta is already crossing the Philippines through the bypass. I won’t name names but two more of the major operators are going to go through the Philippines. Soon, the three household names that provide our social media platforms will go to the Philippines.”

Because of this, ARTA wants to further streamline the processes to build data centers in the country. ARTA Secretary Ernest Perez admits there are still challenges, but he hopes agencies can improve the system and implement the reforms.

“Always the challenge about the implementation. We’re looking at the LGU level. We’re looking at simplification of permitting process,” Perez said.

He added, “We have Executive Order 32, we have Konektadong PInoy, we have the E-Gov Act recently passed, the challenge now is how to implement this.”

There are several data centers in the country and more are being built due to the high demand for such facilities especially with rise of artificial intelligence.