THE Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) 7 plans to establish over 800 Wi-Fi access points (AP) to provide free internet connection to the public.
However, DICT 7 Director Frederick Amores said that while they are providing free Wi-Fi connection through their APs across the region, the project is not for personal or gaming use.
The DICT’s “Free Wi-Fi for All” project, in partnership with local government units (LGUs) in Central Visayas, aims to provide additional APs in the region.
Amores recently told SunStar Cebu that to achieve their aim, the agency has collaborated with LGUs and national government agencies across the region that will need to provide the bandwidth by subscribing to an internet service provider.
The receiving LGUs and national government agencies have to supply and set up the AP sites which Amores said is a device that projects Wi-Fi signals in a designated area or sites.
Amores said that free Wi-Fi APs are located in public areas such as schools, rural health units, public hospitals, municipal and city halls and police stations, among others.
A total of 480 AP sites will be built across the region with a tentative budget of P50 million.
Amores added that the partner LGUs and national government agencies will also undergo internet literacy and digital literacy orientation in basic knowledge and troubleshooting in internet connectivity.
In the past, the DICT 7 focused more on setting up as many as access points across the region; however, for this year, the agency had to adjust its priorities, setting up AP sites in public areas with high demand for internet connectivity.
LGUs and national government agencies, on the other hand, will also be tasked to identify and set up APs in their area of jurisdiction.
One of the main challenges that the DICT 7 encountered in the past was the maintenance of the equipment across the region.
With limited manpower, the DICT 7 could not cover the spread of the distribution of its equipment.
Amores said the goal of their partnership with LGUs and national government agencies was to reduce the task of the DICT 7 by training partners’ representatives on how to operate and troubleshoot the AP device.
According to data given by the DICT 7, the central office has prepared a tentative budget of over P170 million to set up 847 additional access points or Wi-Fi hotspot across the region for 2023.
This includes “Wi-Fi in Tourism Spots,” a collaboration with the Department of Tourism with a projected budget of P31 million that aims to establish 40 AP sites across eight tourism spots in Cebu Province.