TECH NEWS | More areas linked to ‘Free Wi-fi’ project
The “Free Wi-Fi for All” project of the government will now include the provinces of Albay, Davao, Isabela and Palawan.
The “Free Wi-Fi for All” project of the government will now include the provinces of Albay, Davao, Isabela and Palawan.
In a recent advisory, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said this development is part of efforts to provide free internet access access to “around 6,000 remote, unserved, and underserved sites nationwide.”
The UNDP has partnered with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for this rollout.
In May 2019, the DICT and UNDP officially signed the partnership.
The DICT said under the agreement, “the UNDP will conduct an area-based network analysis of target sites for Wi-Fi hotspots, oversee monitoring of project impact, and continue to provide technical training to achieve the expected outputs.
Several roll outs of free wi-fi spots have also been undertaken particularly last year.
In October 2019, the DICT simultaneously launched 23 Internet sites across seventeen regions in the country.
The department in July 2019 said more than 300 “live” sites have been added and that there are now about 3,000 sites
Titon Mitra, UNDP resident representative, said “connectivity opens up access to a huge amount of digital technologies and innovations. It can fundamentally change the face of development.”
The official further said UNDP’s newly-release human development report cites lack of access to Internet as of the new gaps in development, with as much consequences as lack of access to health, education, and food.
