BENGUET Electric Cooperative (Beneco) is set to offer its 190,000 customers a reliable internet connection following the approval by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

In the weekly Kapihan sa Baguio, Beneco department manager Delfin Cachin explained the cooperative of its 100 kilometer fiber optic line in Baguio City and Benguet Province, aside from the additional 80 kilometer fiber optic line it will soon be laying out.

“The government has a project for the country to have a faster internet connection speed under the national broadband plan, and Facebook has a project now which will connect Asia through submarine cable coming from the US through the alternate route in the Philippines via Baler, Aurora to Poro Point, La Union,” Cachin said.

Under the project in collaboration with the DICT and NEA, Beneco will have an access to the two million mbps of bandwidth.

Once operational, Beneco would charge around P200 to P350 pesos to its 190,000 customers who may want to avail of an internet connection with a 35 mpbs capability.

“They saw that electric cooperatives like Beneco can be tapped to undergo with the project after its rural electrification program. And since electric cooperatives are now venturing into fibre optics cables because of the need for their operations, they can now offer internet to their customers,” Cachin stated.

DICT and NEA is now looking at the possibility of allotting funds based on the fiber optic cable it had laid down and the allotment of a bandwidth which will be given as an added income service for the cooperative.

Billing for internet connectivity will be separated from the monthly electric bills.