PALO, Leyte — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday officially launched Phases 2 and 3 of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB), a key infrastructure project that will extend high-speed internet connectivity across the Visayas and Mindanao.

Held at The Tropics Hotel in Palo, the launch marks a major expansion of the country’s digital backbone, adding 1,781 kilometers of fiber optic cables across Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Bicol Region, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and the Davao Region.

The NFB is a flagship initiative of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) aimed at enhancing internet access in both urban centers and far-flung communities.

According to the DICT, NFB Phases 2 and 3 will activate 31 additional nodes in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) network, delivering an extra 100 Gbps of bandwidth to at least 20 provinces, 1,000 government agencies, and nearly 1.4 million users.

“In today’s world, fast internet access is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity,” Marcos said in his speech in Filipino. “We need it for education, for work, for business, and to stay connected with our loved ones.”

The President acknowledged the persistent disparity in internet access across the country, particularly in remote areas, but emphasized that the expansion of the NFB will help bridge that digital divide.

“In many isolated areas, people have to travel long distances just to get online,” he said. “This project is a step toward ending that inequality.”

The rollout of Phases 2 and 3 follows the successful launch of Phase 1 in April 2024, which laid down 1,245 kilometers of high-speed fiber optic lines from Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, to Quezon City. Phase 1 now connects 14 provinces in Northern and Central Luzon, Metro Manila, four BCDA ecozones, and two National Government Data Centers.