Manongs and manangs go techie in Ilocos Norte

LAOAG CITY—Ilocano folk, made notorious by a telecommunications commercial for the phrase “Diak maawatan (I don’t understand),” will soon be tech-savvy manangs and manongs because they can soon access the Internet through their own power lines.

An Israeli business consortium, the Broadband Power Lines Communications Inc. (BPLCI), is using the fiber-optic system used by the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (Inec) to distribute electricity to transmit data.

Renato Balintec, Inec general manager, said the cooperative will bring the Internet to the farthest areas of Laoag.

A Wi-Fi antenna has been set up to send the signal around the provincial capital for its initial launch this month.

Balintec said 24 more antennas will be installed around the city, each with a radius of 500 meters turning the entire downtown Laoag into a Wi-Fi zone.

The broadband will initially be accessible only in Laoag, but the rest of Ilocos Norte will be linked up once full operation is achieved in September.

A user will need to have a Wi-Fi card to access the Inec-facilitated Internet. An Inec Wi-Fi icon will soon pop up in Wi-Fi-capable laptops, mobile phones or tablets.

Balintec said the Wi-Fi service will benefit mostly students and tourists who make use of the Internet at any hour of the day.

The BPLCI will lay out another 300 kilometers of fiber-optic cables that will give remote villages access to Wi-Fi.

Balintec said Inec will use fiber-optic cables to transmit data and voice services through power lines connected to commercial or household circuit breakers.

According to Balintec, the technology, also known as a smart grid system, is now being used in the United States and the United Kingdom.