Following the approval of the $288-million Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project (PDIP), the government plans to put up 772 free wifi sites throughout the country, many of which in remote areas especially in the Davao and Caraga regions.
Jeffrey Ian Dy, undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), said the 10-year PDIP, was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday.
PDIP the government’s flagship project that aims to boost broadband connectivity nationwide particularly in remote areas and strengthen cybersecurity in the country, will be funded through a $288-million loan from the World bank.
“It is the largest and actually the first of its kind in the Philippines for a loan for digital infrastructure. It will seek to complete the national fiber backbone which spans from, remember that in April, the President already launched the first phase of this which goes from Baler to Laoag, then to Metro Manila,” Dy said.
He said the second and third phase of the national fiber backbone would connect Metro Manila to Southern Luzon and is expected to be completed by 2028.
“With this loan, we should be able to get submarine cables across Visayas and then connect it to Mindanao; it’s a domestic submarine. On top of that, we should be able to also provide 772 free wi-fi sites concentrating on Mindanao in Region XI (Davao)— Regions XI and Region XIII (Caraga),” he added.
Dy said many of the target areas for the free wi-fi are in Mindanao where the “internet penetration rate is lower than 17 percent”.
He said nationwide the internet penetration rate is around 73.6 percent, which means approximately 86 million Filipinos have access to the internet.
Dy said many of the wi-fi sites would also be put up near public schools and hospitals to enable students to have free internet access that they can use in their education needs.
He emphasized the significance of increasing internet accessibility as “every 10 percent increase in internet penetration rate, it constitutes approximately 1.38 percent increase in our gross domestic product.
“That is the reason why this project is very important,” he said.
Dy assured appropriate measures including security are in place to prevent attacks, hacking and even accessing prohibited sites like those involving pornography.
As this developed, the DICT said it has prevented 2,900 attempted attacks on government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and some local government units (LGUs).
Dy said there were also attempted attacks on the online sites of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) supposedly by a Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). He said this was reported early this year.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said an APT is a type of sophisticated cyberattack that aims to steal sensitive data or cause damage to a target network over a long period of time.
“There are already reports from the US (United States). There are already media reports from other countries.(They are saying) Chinese actors are actively acting on certain government’s online sites,” Dy said.
Meanwhile, the NEDA Board also on Tuesday approved adjustments to various parameters of several ongoing infrastructure projects, pertaining to project scope, cost and extension of implementation period and loan validity.
These projects are the Local Governance Reform Project; Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility; New Cebu International Container Port Project; Light Rail Transit Line 1 South Extension Project; Malolos-Clark Railway Project, Tranche 1; Metro Manila Flood Management Project, Phase 1; Reconstruction and Development Plan for a Greater Marawi, Stage 2; Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project; and Panguil Bay Bridge Project.
“The adjustments to these ongoing infrastructure projects were necessary to ensure their successful completion, advancing our national efforts to expand and upgrade our infrastructure, improve connectivity, and create more jobs,” said NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. – With Angela Celis
