Free Wi-Fi hotspots eyed in Cebu by July

Public areas in Class 3 to 6 towns prioritized

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) plans to start setting up free Wi-Fi access points in public areas in Cebu in July, an official said.

Cebu is one of three pilot areas for the government’s Free Internet Wi-Fi Access in Public Places Project, which aims to provide off-the-grid Filipinos access to the Internet.

The target is to improve Internet penetration in the country to 99 percent from the current 50 percent.

Mon Ibrahim, executive director of DOST – Information and Communication Technology Office (ICTO), said P1.4 billion has been set aside for the establishment of  7,000 free Wi-Fi access points all over the country under the program.

Wi-fi hotspots have been set up in Cavite. In July, Ibrahim said hotspots will also be piloted in Cebu, Metro Manila and Davao City.

“This will also improve governance, as the project will provide ease of access to e-Government services.

This July, free Wi-Fi will actually be piloted in areas in Cebu, along with areas in Metro Manila and Davao City,” DOST-ICTO Undersecretary Napoleon Louis Casambre said in his keynote speech delivered by Ibrahim during the 2015 Cebu ICT/BPM Conference yesterday.

The project will set up 7,000 free Wi-Fi access points in public places such as plazas, parks, libraries, schools, train stations, airports, and government offices. Priority will be given to Class 3 to 6 municipalities.

Target sites are 967 municipalities, 3,269 schools, 202 rural health units, 59 major rails, 21 seaports, 10 airports, 736 local government units, 141 national government agencies, 125 state universities and 43 major cities.

“We will not be building the infrastructure. It will be bid out to private providers like cable companies that already have the network in the area,” Ibrahim said.

The free Wi-Fi hotspots will have a speed of 256 kilobytes per second (kbps) and can accommodate up to 200,000 concurrent users.

In an interview after the keynote address, Ibrahim said infrastructure should be put in place before the Philippines can start seeing development and growth of a “digital economy.”

“By digital economy, we mean that we develop an ecosystem where everyone can take advantage of making use of the different ICT like e-commerce and e-government services,” said Ibrahim.

The free Wi-Fi project will also complement another DOST project, the Rural Impact Sourcing.

“This initiative also aims to develop the capacities of these communities for them to be fit for home-based and high-value online jobs. With this project, Filipinos in socio-economically challenged areas can work abroad, but stay at home,” Casambre said in his speech.

He noted that the Philippines was first connected to the Internet through the University of San Carlos in Talamban on March 29, 1994.

“Over 20 years after, we have seen how the Internet has changed the lives of Filipinos and has revolutionized our way of doing things. Communication has never been easier. Business processes have significantly improved,” he said.

“Opportunities for knowledge and information sharing, and community building have increased. The Internet has evolved the world into a global village, making us all interconnected,” he added.

Quoting McKinsey and Company, Casambre said “the Internet creates at least 2.6 jobs for every one deleted.”

By empowering Filipinos from Luzon to Mindanao through free and stable internet connectivity, Casambre said they were optimistic that this shall translate to a more robust and dynamic economy.

“Based on a World Bank report, for every 10 percent surge in national broadband connectivity, the gross domestic product (GDP) takes a 1.38 percent boost,” he said.

He also noted that the Information Technology – Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry contributed $18.9-billion revenues to the economy last year while generating a total of 1.03 million jobs. About 100,000 workers are in Cebu.