DICT seeks private sector help to boost internet access in PH

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is seeking unsolicited offers to augment the rollout of the country’s internet infrastructure, Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said.

The DICT is facing tough odds in Congress in its bid for a massive 2020 budget increase—money which will partly fund a long-running goal for a national broadband program.

Honasan said the department could rely on help from the private sector to bring internet access to areas unserved or underserved by telco incumbents PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

“There are many [companies] who want to help for free knowing that the corporate objective does not run counter to the public interest,” Honasan said during a Senate hearing this week.

He said these companies would be eventually allowed to earn but they must first show a good track record.

“If there are companies who think they can do it better, then we can do a Swiss Challenge. It also fast tracks the process,” said Honasan, referring to a price challenge that is required of unsolicited offers.

Eliseo Rio Jr., DICT undersecretary, said in an interview that one such group that offered to lay down internet cables was a unit of China’s HyalRoute Group.

Rio said HyalRoute is in the process of securing right-of-way. But the difficulty in acquiring right-of-way is a perennial cause of delay when it comes to rolling out infrastructure projects.

Uncertainty hangs over the DICT’s ability to fund its national broadband program, which will cost about P35.7 billion from 2020 through 2022.

For next year, the DICT is asking for P14.7 billion for the project, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of its P36.3 billion budget request for 2020.

This is much bigger than the DICT budget for the project of P4.13 billion indicated in next year’s National Expenditure Program.

Apart from the national broadband program, the DICT said it needs P6.3 billion for its free Wi-Fi project in public spaces for next year.

The DICT plans to activate a total of 52,559 sites in locations across the country such as public schools and hospitals.

So far, the department had fallen short of its annual goals since 2016.

For 2019 alone, the DICT is targeting to activate free Wi-Fi in 26,405 sites. But since the start of the program, it had reached 2,897 sites or close to 11 percent of the goal.