The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is planning to further expand the reach of its Free Wi-Fi for All Program across the country, pledging to roll out more free internet access points in Central Visayas this year.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
The Visayas Cluster 2 of the DICT targets to establish 424 free Wi-Fi sites across 106 locations in Central Visayas, with four free Wi-Fi hotspots to be installed in one location.
“Your DICT continues to ramp up its connectivity efforts, especially the Free Wi-Fi for All Program, in line with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive to connect the government to other governments, government to businesses, government to citizens, and everybody to each,” DICT Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II said in a statement on March 25.
“Free Wi-Fi provides instant access to the Internet and will help Filipinos adopt to the new normal,” he added.
Target locations included government offices, public hospitals, public schools, state universities and colleges (SUCs), airports and seaports, terminals, among others.
The DICT said it sought to install additional free Wi-Fi sites in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas in the country using very small aperture terminal (VSAT) technology.
“The continuous implementation of the Free Wi-Fi program resulted to a 500-percent increase in the activation of the sites in the year 2020 alone,” Honasan explained.
“We want to direct this growth to places where there is minimal to no fiber and tower,” he added.
As of March 10, the DICT has deployed a total of 8,170 free Wi-Fi sites across the country.