February 9, 2023 Signing of Memorandum of Cooperation in the ICT Field between MIC and the Department of Information and Communications Technology of the Republic of the Philippines

Mr. MATSUMOTO Takeaki, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, has signed a memorandum of cooperation in the ICT field between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) of the Republic of the Philippines.

1. Background to the memorandum

On March 31, 2017, a memorandum of cooperation in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) between MIC and DICT was signed to further promote cooperation between Japan and the Philippines in the ICT field.
A new administration has recently emerged in the Philippines under President Ferdinand MARCOS and the president is making his first visit to Japan. Taking this opportunity, on February 9, 2023, Mr. MATSUMOTO Takeaki, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and Mr. Enrique MANALO, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, acting on behalf of DICT, exchanged original copies of the memorandum of cooperation in the presence of the two national leaders. The memorandum carries over the main fields of cooperation from the earlier memorandum, while also adding the construction of Open RAN (open radio access network) as a new field of cooperation.

2. Outline of the memorandum

MIC and DICT agreed to promote cooperation in the following areas.
Support for the smooth transition to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting based on the Japanese standard (support for the utilization of the Emergency Warning Broadcasting Service) in the Philippines.
Support for improving the broadband infrastructure and service provision in the Philippines.
Support for 5G supplier diversification and development of open, secure and resilient 5G network.
Development of capacity-building programs in the field of cybersecurity.
Other efforts to strengthen cooperation in the fields of 5G/Beyond 5G, the IoT, Big data, and AI, cultural relationships through broadcast content, and Digital Transformation (DX).

3. Future direction

Based on this memorandum, MIC will further promote bilateral cooperation in the ICT field.