About 30 percent of the country still has no access to the internet but the government cannot commit to ensure that the whole country, including the remotest islands, would have online access.
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy said the government’s goal is to provide access to internet or set up free wifi zones throughout the country under the “BroadBand ng Masa,” but there are some limitations that affect the program’s implementation.
“We have about 30 percent of our population that is not connected and considering our more than 7,000 islands, it’s going to take a while,” Uy said.
He noted “financial and human resources limitations” plus the viability of setting up a free wifi zone or internet access in a remote island as among the factors that have to be considered.
“We cannot do 100 percent because there are certain islands, let’s say, there are only a handful of people there… in order to set up those equipment and those towers… it doesn’t make sense. Let’s say an island that has 10 people or 20 people… So, we’re identifying communities where there are a few thousand people that have no connectivity,” he said.
The DICT over the weekend has set up a free wifi zone in Sacol Island in Zamboanga Peninsula which, while still lacking mobile phone signal, now has access to a stable internet service. It benefits around 12,000 people.
The internet connectivity in Sacol extends to Tigtabon and Pangapuyan. The three geographically isolated islands are all under Zamboanga City.
The free internet service in Sacol Island is accessible at the Madrasah, Landang Laum Elementary School, Landang Laum Barangay Hall and Landang Gua Elementary School; while for Pangapuyan Island, it can be accessed at Pangapuyan Elementary School and Pangapuyan Barangay Hall; and for Tigtabon, at the Tigtabon Barangay Hall.
Uy said aside from Zamboanga, DICT also set up free wifi zones in Lamitan and Santriago in Basilan last week.
