Teachers in Leyte expressed their gratitude to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. after free Wi-Fi became available in their province, which supports local events, boosts tourism, and enhances emergency response efforts.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) confirmed that three public access points are now operational at the MacArthur Leyte Landing Memorial Park, allowing devices to connect to the internet through a wired network using Wi-Fi.

The free Wi-Fi’s location in the park is expected to benefit the staging of local events, stimulate tourist activity, and enhance the local government unit’s emergency response capabilities.

Aside from the park, the DICT also launched a free public Wi-Fi site at the Leyte Tourism and Investment Promotion Center with two access points. This will enhance public service accessibility, particularly for tourists visiting the center.

The free Wi-Fi can deliver a maximum speed of 200 Mbps from DICT and 50 Mbps from Freq IT Solutions.

The DICT said as of June 30, there are 201 free Wi-Fi sites with a total of 301 access points across Region VIII, or Eastern Visayas.

In an interview with the Presidential News Desk, DICT Director Paul Tuason said public access to the internet has increased significantly since President Marcos took office in 2022.

In 2022, the number of access points nationwide was around 4,000. “As of June 30, we already have around 18,000 access points nationwide,” Tuason said. | PND