National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said Tuesday it is set to sign an agreement with the Department of Information and Communications Technology on the use of the grid operator’s fiber optic network for the national broadband program.
National Grid said in a statement the signing of the agreement would help bring the country’s average internet speed close to first-world countries.
“NGCP is pleased to be chosen by the government, through the DICT, to be its partner in the national broadband network [NBN] project. We are fully supporting this program and its expedited implementation,” National Grid president and chief executive Henry Sy Jr said.
National Grid is the operator of the country’s nationwide transmission network through a concession agreement with the government.
The government has been in talks with National Grid to deploy broadband internet through its fiber optic network.
“We are aware that a well-connected nation, such as South Korea and Sweden, enables a fast-paced exchange of knowledge and information needed to further propel our country’s growth,” Sy said.
National Grid’s fiber optic cables covering 6,154 kilometers or 160,779 fiber kilometers will form the primary network of President Rodrigo Duterte’s priority program to bring wi-fi connection to every corner, and virtually to everyone in the country.
The company said that the fiber optic network was primarily used for internal communication but the unused portion of the cables would help ease the infrastructure burden faced by DICT as it can piggyback on National Grid’s existing network.
DICT undersecretary for development and innovation Denis Villorente said the agency planned to complete the feasibility study for the multibillion-peso national broadband network project by end of the year.
“We want to complete the feasibility study by end of this year. We are talking to other potential sponsors to the feasibility study like with the US government and Japanese government. We’re exploring those options,” Villorente said.
DICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima earlier said the national broadband network would require an investment of P77 billion and could reach up to P200 billion if the government had no existing infrastructure.
“That was assuming everything new, everything from scratch. We did not take into consideration that for example, we can use existing assets like fiber on NGCP [National Grid Corporation of the Philippines] and so on,” Villorente said.
“Because right now, NGCP has told us that they are right now open to government using that existing fiber, that cost should come down and also the period to implement it should be shorter as well,” he said.
The NBN project is expected to be completed in one year to three years.