Globe Telecom wants the Philippine government to treat telecommunications as an essential utility during disaster recovery, placing network restoration on equal footing with electricity and water. The country's second-largest mobile operator made the call at a GSMA event in New Delhi, where it presented on network resilience during extreme weather.

The argument is straightforward: connectivity saves lives when disasters strike. Globe general counsel Froilan Castelo said connectivity becomes a lifeline during emergencies, allowing people to reach emergency services, receive official advice and coordinate relief operations.

"Connectivity becomes a lifeline during disasters," Castelo told the GSMA gathering, framing telecoms not as a convenience that returns after a crisis but as infrastructure the response itself depends on.

What is Globe proposing?

Castelo laid out a package of measures aimed at speeding up how networks come back after typhoons, floods and other extreme events that regularly hit the Philippines. The proposals include:

• Restoring telecoms networks alongside power and other essential utilities, rather than after them
• A national framework that lets government agencies and operators coordinate their disaster response
• Priority access to government logistics, plus military and police support, for restoration teams
• Removal of regulatory and administrative barriers that slow down repairs

The logic behind the last point is practical. Power outages, impassable roads and difficulties reaching damaged facilities can all delay restoration work, Castelo said. A national plan could clear those obstacles before a storm arrives rather than during the chaos that follows.

Why the Philippines?

The proposal lands in a country that faces recurring natural disasters threatening its telecommunications infrastructure. The Philippine archipelago sits in the western Pacific typhoon belt and endures dozens of tropical cyclones each year, events that repeatedly knock out cell sites, cut power and sever transport links at the same moment citizens most need to call for help.

That pattern puts operators in a difficult position. Crews cannot repair towers while roads are flooded or sites lack electricity, yet emergency responders and affected families depend on those towers for coordination and information. Globe's pitch essentially asks the state to recognise that dependency by giving telecoms workers the same access and priority granted to power and water crews.

A standards and policy opening

The GSMA stage matters here. The industry body has pushed network resilience up the policy agenda in recent years, and disaster-preparedness frameworks increasingly treat communications as critical infrastructure rather than a commercial service. Globe's intervention aligns with that shift, urging the Philippine government to codify in a national framework what operators currently handle case by case.

Castelo's call for removing regulatory barriers also signals where friction lies today.permits, access restrictions and coordination gaps between agencies can stretch repair timelines even when the physical work itself is straightforward. A standing national plan, in Globe's view, would convert ad hoc cooperation into a predictable process with clear priorities.

For now, the proposal remains exactly that. Globe has put the issue before an international industry audience and the implicit audience in Manila; whether the Philippine government adopts a formal framework that ranks telecoms with power and water will decide whether the call changes recovery practice or simply names a problem the industry has long known.