Seeking sustained development in the "infrastructure of infrastructures"

The growth and expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure has been given impetus through the vision articulated in the Philippines 2000 plan, with the stated goal to attain status as a newly industrialized country by the year 2000. As tangible evidence of the country´s commitment to these goals, the government has issued two executive mandates that provide a policy framework and a level playing field for authorized private telecommunication service providers. The first mandate calls for mandatory interconnection of all authorized telecommunication service providers in order to create a universally accessible and fully integrated nationwide telecommunications network. The second mandate calls for the provisioning of local exchange services nationwide.<>