Gov’t broadband project can start this year

The government can start building this year its massive national broadband network project, aimed at bringing internet access to underserved areas in the countryside, according to Secretary Rodolfo Salalima of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Salalima told reporters that initial blueprints for the plan have been forwarded to Malacañang. The next step is for President Duterte to give his final go-ahead for the project, estimated to cost anywhere from P77 billion to P200 billion.

“When the President tells us to implement it, that is the start,” Salalima said as he hoped that they could begin in the first half of 2017.

The DICT’s current recommendation was for the government to build a “north to south” broadband network that could also require close cooperation with the country’s major telco players—PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

Salalima earlier described this as a “hybrid” model because in some cases, the government might rely on the existing infrastructure of the telcos. The government could also lease to telco players its own network assets for areas they are unable or unwilling to serve.

This would help remote areas with poor access to traditional telecommunications services and internet.

Salalima said the project would be completed well before the term of Mr. Duterte ends in 2022.

The project’s completion could be hastened and its cost reduced if the DICT were allowed to use thousands of kilometers of fiber optic cables being used by National Grid Corporation of the Philippines led by a group of businessmen including Henry Sy Jr.

The proposed national broadband network was among several options given to Mr. Duterte. Another option was for the government to become a “full-blown” telco operator itself but Salalima noted that this was not yet recommended and would require a feasibility study.

Salalima said last week that DICT had been receiving proposals from partners and suppliers and even funding offers.

“We can’t proceed until there’s the go-signal from the President,” he said .