The first phase of the National Broadband Plan (NBP), the rollout of fiber backbone network from Laoag to Quezon City, is set to be operational by yearend, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Ivan Uy, DICT secretary, said the first phase, which involves accessing dark fiber provided by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, will improve broadband capacity of up to 2 terabits per second.
“First phase… from Laoag to Quezon, we see hopefully going live by yearend, that definitely will add 2 terabits of access. We have 50,000 megabits for the government now with improvement of 2 million Mbps (or 2 terabits per second) capacity. That’s a very big increase in the capacity for the government broadband infrastructure,” Uy said during the virtual event on Building Digital Cities.
DICT earlier said the national fiber backbone phase 1 project had an overall accomplishment rate of 73.5 percent as of March this year.
NBP Phase 1 involves activating 28 nodes of the national fiber backbone located in 12 provinces in Luzon. NBP shall provide faster, efficient and equitable broadband connectivity nationwide, including in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA).
DICT said it is also on track to deliver free WiFi service in the country but noted some issues on the logistics.
“We have the free WiFi projects for many of the local governments, in many areas the hardware are all installed. The issues are mostly on the middle mile and last mile. We are working on those middle mile and last mile issues,” Uy said.
The Free Wi-Fi for All Program was mandated by Republic Act 10929 or the Free Internet Access to Public Place Act. DICT said it has established 7,977 operational free WiFi sites in public areas nationwide as of March.
DICT is looking to deploy satellite technology to connect the far-flung areas. Uy said the government will invest on technology to bring internet connectivity to the GIDAs.
“Those remote areas, geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, they are getting the attention of the government. These areas are not really attractive to the private sector because of the low prospect of revenue generation. The government has to step in,” said Uy.
