The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is pushing for countryside ICT development in the Visayas region.
DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy stressed the role of the agency in pushing for countryside development and its commitment in being a strong ally for rural development, during the 10th Visayas ICT Conference last month.
“Commemorating a decade of leveraging the Visayas region for Philippine Digital Transformation, we are honored at the DICT to be an institutional partner in the nurturing of countryside-centric initiatives,” said Uy.
Uy added the agency has great plans for various ICT councils and the information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry.
“To establish and strengthen the ICT councils and foster collaboration of relevant stakeholders in developing their local ICT roadmaps, we also have the Digital Cities 2025 Program, formerly known as the Next Wave Cities Project. The Digital Cities Program aims to expand the IT-BPM Industry and ensure decent work and economic growth, especially in the countryside,” he said.
The collaboration panel focused on projects from the government and the public and private sectors that work together to create an enabling ICT ecosystem.
The panel also discussed the new and emerging technologies that are revolutionizing the boundaries between virtual, physical and biological realms, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain and data analytics.
As part of initiatives to strengthen ICT services in the countryside, the DICT Caragaregional office’s Regional Government Emergency Telecommunications Team (RGETT), meanwhile, conducted the rehabilitation of the high-frequency (HF) radio in the DICT Surigao del Norte Provincial Office.
The radio, which was damaged by Typhoon Odette, was repaired and installed on Sept. 1.
HF radio is beneficial for countryside development as it is independent from the fundamental infrastructure used by cellular technology, such as communications towers and internet technologies. Consequently, it is an ideal medium for emergency communications.
HF radio is also being used in simulation exercises on disaster preparedness by the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster.
The RGETT initiated the rehabilitation of the emergency communications equipment to ensure that personnel, processes and technology solutions are ready to deploy and provide communication services, as well as support regional response capacities to deliver coordination and operational telecom services in the province.
The RGETT will also install HF radio in the provincial offices of DICT Surigao del Sur and the province of Dinagat Islands. – Myla Iglesias
