DICT targets over 9,000 free Wi-Fi sites by 2023

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is targeting to establish over 9,000 free Wi-Fi sites across the country in the coming year, more than double the current active sites.

According to Undersecretary for ICT Industry Development Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, the agency aims to set up 3,273 additional sites in the coming year, up from the 3,055 active sites as of August 20, 2022.

“By the end of fiscal year 2023, we will hit a total of 9,224 free Wi-Fi sites and public places across the country,” she said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday regarding the agency’s proposed budget for the coming year.

Under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2023, the DICT was allocated P7.232 billion.

This includes P6.249 billion for the Office of the Secretary, P347.672 million for the cybercrime investigation and coordination center (CICC), P200.179 million for the National Privacy Commission, and P438.765 million for the National Telecommunications Commission.

According to Batapa-Sigue, the additional sites will include over 1,000 each in Luzon and the Visayas regions, while over 500 will be put up in Mindanao.

The free Wi-Fi program is set to have a minimum speed of 1.6 megabits per second, and a maximum of 50 megabits per second, with ongoing contracts with private providers.

The latest figures are a fry cry from the 250,000 Wi-Fi access points the DICT planned to have by the end of the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, which it announced in 2018.

Duterte in August 2017 signed Republic Act 10929 or the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act, mandating that the government should provide free internet access in public spaces across the country.

The DICT in March unveiled a P50-billion spending plan for the next three years, with a focus on improving the country’s digital infrastructure. — BM, GMA News