Free Wi-Fi access to get boost with DICT budget hike

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos are expected to have access to free Wi-Fi not only in public places but even inside classrooms and workplaces as funding for the Department of Information and Communications (DICT) was raised by P6.2 billion this year.

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In a statement on Wednesday, Senator Sonny Angara said that from the P3.7 billion in the National Expenditure Program submitted by Malacañang to Congress last year, the DICT’s 2020 budget was hiked to nearly P10 billion in the P4.1 trillion GAA.

“The world is quickly moving towards the digital age. The government has to keep up with the demands brought about by this shift,” Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said.

Sen. Sonny Angara
(File photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

“Tech-savvy Filipinos demand this, which is why the DICT, as the agency in charge of all things related to IT, was granted a bigger budget to undertake the programs needed to make this happen,” he added.

The senator said DICT will be tasked to make classrooms, workplaces and communities digital, which means they would have access to the Internet and mobile forms of communication.

The budget increase of the DICT will also enable the agency to implement free public Wi-Fi services in more areas.

Funding for the establishment of infrastructure for a national government data center will also be made available, he added.

Angara explained that the national government data center will serve as the launching point for many government services such as cloud computing, web hosting, server co-location and other operations.

“When agencies and offices are able to communicate with each other real-time, more work can be accomplished at a faster pace and all of this will mean better service for the public and the taxpayers in particular,” he said.

The budget, Angara added, will also support the implementation of the Government Emergency Communications System (GECS).

According to Angara, the GECS is intended to provide emergency communication systems in disaster-stricken areas.

“One of the most important things that we need when disaster strikes is constant communication with the affected areas,” he said.

“The responders need to know the situation on the ground and what is needed by the communities,” he added.

Angara further noted that the DICT budget will also contain funding for the development of the National Government Portal (NGP), which will serve as a one-stop gateway for all web-based government content.

With this, he said citizens and businesses, in particular, will be able to have access to information useful to them without having to navigate through different and often unintuitive web pages.

Funding was also provided for the DICT to implement the national broadband program, Angara added.

He said an additional P3.321 billion was also granted to the National Telecommunications Commission, which is under the DICT, for its general administration and support, the implementation of its National Emergency Communication Resiliency Program, and ICT modernization program.