P280M allotted for free Wi-Fi

connectivity in state universities

Posted on August 12, 2018

The national government is investing P280 million to provide free Internet Wi-Fi connectivity in the
country’s 114 state universities and colleges (SUCs), a member of the House appropriations
committee said Sunday, Aug 12.

“We are counting on highly improved password-free Internet networks in SUCs to advance
opportunities for learning and research, especially in their campuses in the provinces,” Makati City
representative Luis Campos Jr. said.

Some 1.3 million students are currently enrolled in SUCs, Campos said.

Campos said the P280-million allotment for the Free Internet Wi-Fi Connectivity in SUCs Project is
lodged in the budget of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in the
proposed P3.757 trillion General Appropriations Act for 2019.

Campos is author of House Bill 5337, which seeks to classify broadband or high-speed Internet access
as a basic telecommunications service.

Once the measure is enacted, the National Telecommunications Commission would be empowered
to require Internet service providers to deliver rising average connection speeds within prescribed
deadlines under pain of harsh regulatory fines.

The Philippines’ average Internet connection speed remains the slowest in Asia Pacific, according to
Akamai Technologies.

In his 2019 Budget Message to Congress, President Duterte had vowed “to harness the power of
information technology to deliver better services to our people and spur economic growth.”
 State Universities and State Colleges (SUCs) in the Philippines have been given the privilege
to be part of the free education act. Currently, 1.3 million students were enrolled in SUC’s, which is
the main reason why the national government invested P280 million in order to provide free internet
Wi-Fi connectivity in the country’s 114 state universities and colleges.

With this, students get to have more advance opportunities for learning and research, Luis
Campos the author of House Bill 5337 (that seeks to classify broadband or high-speed internet access
as a basic telecommunications service), said, that the P280-million allotment for the Free Internet Wi-
Fi Connectivity in SUCs Project is lodged in the budget of the Department of Information and
Communications Technology (DICT) in the proposed P3.757 trillion General Appropriations Act for
2019.

Once the measure is enacted, the National Telecommunications Commission would

be empowered to require Internet service providers to deliver rising average connection
speeds within prescribed deadlines under pain of harsh regulatory fines.

The Philippines’ average Internet connection speed remains the slowest in Asia Pacific,
according to Akamai Technologies. In his 2019 Budget Message to Congress, President Duterte had
vowed, “to harness the power of information technology to deliver better services to our people and
spur economic growth.”

This is very relevant to the Filipino youth especially to those who belongs to the less fortunate
families who cannot afford to have internet connections in their homes, Thesis, research papers,
assignments, projects, and lessons nowadays, needs internet connection to be able to access sites
and information, which are suitable for the said requirements in school. The National Government
made the right decision in investing P280 million pesos free Wi-Fi connectivity that will serve as the
driving force for students to be able to focus more on their studies and to be able to use this big
privilege for academic purposes. This also opens more opportunity for students who wanted to have
online jobs or is searching for scholarship grants, which may become a big help to their families.
Filipino youth now are more engage in using the computer or other gadgets that is why this act also
becomes an advantage not just by learning within the four walls of the classroom but also learning
more with experiences and trying to solve more challenges through the use of technologies in the
future.