TO BOOST the connectivity in tourist spots in the Visayas, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Visayas Cluster 2 plans to put up free Wifi sites in popular destinations.

DICT Visayas Cluster 2 Director Leo Urbiztondo Jr. told SunStar Cebu they have initially identified Fort San Pedro in Plaza Independencia and the area in front of the Cebu City Hall to place the sites.

“With the free Wifi sites, the tourists will be able to upload photos and videos in their social media accounts, which is already marketing for our country,” Urbiztondo said.

He said with more tourists visiting the area, this would mean more economic activity in the community since it will generate jobs for residents like being guides and other related employment.

Aside from foreign tourists, Urbiztondo wanted to improve internet connectivity to cater to the domestic visitors.

He said with the free internet, both local and foreign tourists would be able to have a complete travel experience as they upload their photos on the Internet.

“We have so many tourist spots, so when they see that there were a lot of posts about the destination, it will encourage them to go there,” he said.

The DICT also identified Chocolate Hills in Carmen and the plaza near the Loboc Church as well as the entrance near the Loboc River Cruise as areas for the free Wifi sites.

They are also looking at seaports where tourists are ushered in terminals for the Wifi sites.

Urbiztondo said they target to put up at least 10 sites in the Visayas by the end of the year.

“We’re still in the process of identifying more tourist spots that may possibly be reached by the DICT’s intervention,” he said.

Pipol Konek

This is in addition to the 130 live Wifi sites DICT established last year in Cebu as part of the P30-million Pipol Konek project aimed at providing the countryside and other far-flung provinces with Internet.

That batch of Wifi sites targeted public schools, government offices, plazas, hospitals, rural health units and public libraries.

For Cebu Province, the project aims to connect all the 44 towns and nine cities to the Internet in 554 sites in public spaces.

The Pipol Konek-Free Wifi Internet Access in Public Places Project has a P1.4 billion appropriated budget for the country in line with the “Internet For All” thrust of the Duterte administration.

As of April 1, 2019, some 2,330 sites across 73 provinces in the country, as well as 18 Points-of-Presence (PoPs) in major cities had been established, the DICT said in its website.

It added that last March 22, 2019, it signed with the United Nations Development Programme a Project Document to “fast-track the rollout of hotspots, stating the goal of providing Internet services to up to 6,000 target sites.” (WITH CTL)