Marcos Administrator launches Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the National Fiber Backbone Project
The Philippines government on Monday launched the second and third phases of its national fiber backbone project, aiming to provide high-speed internet to underserved and remote areas across the country.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, who led the project at the inauguration of Leyte.
He acknowledged the distinct inequality in internet access nationwide, forcing some Filipinos to go long distances just to find signals.
The latest phase will add nearly 1,800 km to the country’s fiber network, expanding to II (Cagayan Valley), IV-A (Calabarzon), V (BICOL), VIII (Eastern Visayas), X (Northern Mindanao) and XI (Davao).
“We are connecting the Philippines through these fiber skeletons so that all Filipinos, even those Filipinos who cannot be connected on faraway islands, will still have the internet to help them work and help them live,” Mr Marcos said.
This builds on the first phase of the Ilocos Norte province to Quezon City, which was completed last April. According to the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICS), it has the initial 600 gigabit spectrum capability, can serve the government and at least 14 provinces, and has at least 14 provinces, and provides two national government data centers.
In another statement, Mr Marcos said the project expanded network coverage nationwide, providing broadband access to more than 600 government offices and public areas, and benefiting from approximately 17 million Filipinos, including 1.39 million unique users.
“The completion of the project may also stimulate growth in rural areas, with Internet penetration increasing to 65% from the current 33% rate,” it added. “It aims to reduce the price of the internet to $5 per Mbps (Megabit per second).
The president described the effort as a collective action to ensure that the Philippines is not left behind in the digital age.
He added that a wider internet connection will help small businesses find online buyers and enable families to access online tutorials for cooking, sewing or farming.
In his third country address, Mr. Marcos is committed to continuing to escalate to national connectivity.
The case has received $28.724 million in loans from the World Bank to accelerate Phase 4 and Phase 5 of the project. The completion of the project is expected to promote growth in rural areas, especially Mishaya and Mindanao.
At the same time, he also called on government agencies to speed up work on critical infrastructure, such as the transformation of the San Juanico Bridge that connects the Leyte and the Samar Islands.
Recent restrictions on bridges have resulted in long delays, and trucks have been forced to wait for hours with essential goods.
The purpose of the Public Works and Highways Department is to restore the bridge’s load capacity to 12 tons by the end of the year, allowing buses, vans and private vehicles to cross.
Currently, more than one billion pesos of budget have been used for repairs and plans to eventually increase its capacity to 33 tons. – Chloe Mari A. Hufana
