The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) aims to slash internet costs by up to 50 percent and connect all 10,875 underserved barangays by 2028.

At the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines Infrastructure Forum on Monday, DICT Secretary Henry R. Aguda said the government is “targeting a 30 to 50 percent price drop” but acknowledged that “it won’t happen overnight.”

“When the President gave us that order, we didn’t debate. We delivered because every Filipino, whether in Batanes or Tawi-Tawi, deserves to be connected,” Aguda said.

To help telcos lower costs and pass on savings, the DICT and the National Telecommunications Commission are jointly pursuing spectrum reforms and shared infrastructure policies, adding that to date, 10,000 to 15,000 Starlink terminals are already deployed nationwide.

Along with this, Aguda said DICT’s Free Wi-Fi for All program, which will cost P9 billion, targets 50,000 new access points and 13 million users.

In his first 100 days, Aguda disclosed that the DICT reactivated nearly 19,000 Free Wi-Fi sites, including 6,183 in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs), and completed 3,026 kilometers of the National Fiber Backbone. This now powers high-speed internet across 20 provinces and over 1,000 government sites, including 153 access points in Batanes and 54 in Tawi-Tawi.

To further streamline digital services, DICT also plans to require all national and local agencies to adopt the eGov SuperApp by 2028.

“Our ultimate goal is to generate more digital jobs, not just in BPOs but in e-commerce and gig work.

That’s already over 10 million workers. Every 10 percent increase in connectivity brings almost 2 percent in GDP growth. The countryside will benefit the most. This is a small price to pay for broad, inclusive, and sustained economic development,” Aguda said.