Over 10,000 free Wi-Fi hot spots by 2019

A lawmaker on Saturday said the government had earmarked another P1.2 billion next year to put up thousands of new free Wi-Fi hot spots all over the country.

The target, according to Rep. Luis Jose Campos, Jr., is to set up 10,800 password-free hot spots all over the country by the end of 2019.

“The amount is on top of the P2.9 billion government spending this year to build more physical locations or access points where Filipinos may freely connect to the Internet via their mobile devices,” Campos said.

He added the extra funding for the Free Internet Wi-Fi Connectivity in Public Places Project is lodged in the budget of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) under the proposed P3.757-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2019.

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

In his 2019 Budget Message to Congress, President Duterte vowed “to harness the power of information technology to deliver better services to our people and spur economic growth.” CRP