The Department of Information and Communications Technology is spending another P1.2 billion next year to put up new Wi-Fi hotspots to provide Filipinos free and seamless Internet connectivity, a House official said on Saturday.
“The amount is on top of the P1.2 billion earmarked this year to build additional access points where Filipinos may freely connect to the Internet via their mobile devices,” said Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr., vice chairman of the House appropriations committee.
Citing a report submitted to Congress, Campos said the DICT said it has so far installed password-free Wi-Fi hotspots in 2,330 sites covering all 17 regions in over 640 municipalities and cities as of April.
The fresh funding for the Free Internet Wi-Fi Connectivity in Public Places Project is lodged in the DICT budget in the proposed P4.1-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2020, he said.
“Money for the project is being sourced from the Free Public Internet Access Fund,” Campos said.
Managed by the DICT, the fund is being sustained by spectrum user fees collected by the National Telecommunications Commission.
Campos is the author of House Bill No. 3563, which grants the NTC new broad powers to compel the country’s telecommunications sector to deliver superior Internet services to the public under pain of severe administrative monetary penalties.
To improve Internet services, the NTC in July finally issued a permit officially enabling the Mislatel consortium (now Dito Telecommunity Corp.) to operate as the country’s third telecommunications player, next to PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc.
“Dito’s entry fulfills President Rodrigo Duterte’s bold initiative to establish stronger market competition so as to assure Filipinos greater access to low-priced high-speed Internet services,” Campos said.
Dito has pledged to invest P257 billion inside five years to provide 84 percent of the country access to a minimum Internet speed of 55 Mbps.
Campos is pushing for greater overall budgetary support to the three-year-old DICT.
“This early, we have to give the DICT all the funding it needs to immediately advance critical projects, including the National Government Portal, the National Government Data Center and the National Broadband Plan,” he said.