The government is eyeing for the establishment of around 772 free Wi-Fi sites for schools and rural health centers in Mindanao.
In a press briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian C. Dy said most of the Wi-Fi sites would be in regions XI and XIII, particularly in areas with public schools and rural health centers.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved the administration’s US$288-million flagship Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project (PDIP) aimed at boosting broadband connectivity nationwide, particularly in remote areas and strengthening cybersecurity.
“So, we have a law, the Free Public Internet Access Law, which was passed in 2016 if I remember that right. So, for this particular project, we are actually just implementing the law, but we will be focusing on public schools, state universities and colleges and rural health units,” Dy said.
“So iyong 772 are mostly public schools and rural health units,” he added.
Dy explained why the government is targeting regions in Mindanao. “This is because even though the entire country has an Internet penetration rate of 73.6 percent, approximately 86 million Filipinos have access to Internet – this disparity is larger in Mindanao where in some regions especially Region XIII, the Internet penetration rate is lower than 17 percent.”
“So, that’s really the target of this development fund. It’s a development program,” he added.
According to the 2023 International Telecommunications Union, 86.5 million Filipinos have access to the internet. Dy said the country’s approximate population now is around 118 million Filipinos.
“We count as having access iyong may access sa smartphone mobile data. As long as may access ka sa mobile data even though your area has no fixed broadband. For example, you still have access to the Internet,” he said.
Dy said Globe, PLDT, Smart wouldn’t bring their services to remote areas because the population will not be able to support payment for commercial Internet.
“Hopefully, when we are there and once we get the cable networks ready, then we can tie up with the local government units and make this available also for fiber to home along with the local providers. And this will increase internet penetration at home. Hindi lang doon sa free Wi-Fi sites. Halimbawa public schools – this can also help in making sure that this particular facility is available even at homes,” he said.
The national fiber backbone and broadband program has been a government vision for quite some time already, Dy said.
With the PDIP, the government should be able to finish by 2028 the entire span of the national fiber backbone, he added. | PND
