(UPDATES) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the $288-million Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project during the 18th board meeting of the National Economic and Development Authority earlier this week.
The World Bank-funded project aims to improve broadband connectivity and cybersecurity in the country.
“It is the largest and actually the first of its kind in the Philippines for a loan for digital infrastructure. Remember that in April, the President already launched the first phase of this, which goes from Baler to Laoag, then to Metro Manila,” said Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy during a briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday.
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy holds a press briefing with the Malacañang Press Corps. Screengrab from PCO Press Briefing FB live
“This year, we are going to finish phases 2 and 3 of the national fiber backbone, which connects Metro Manila to Southern Luzon. With this loan, we should be able to get submarine cables across Visayas and then connect it to Mindanao; it’s a domestic submarine.
“On top of that, they should be able to also provide 772 free Wi-Fi sites concentrating on Mindanao in Regions 11 (Davao) and 13 (Caraga),” Dy added.
Dy said studies revealed that enhanced internet connectivity has a direct impact on the economy and that the disparity in digital connectivity is larger in Mindanao.
“We would like to note that according to our research, for every 10 percent increase in internet penetration rate, it constitutes approximately a 1.38 percent increase in our gross domestic product, and that is the reason why this project is very important,” he added.
“The reason why we’re targeting regions in Mindanao is that even though the entire country has an internet penetration rate of 73.6 percent, approximately 86 million Filipinos have access to the internet — this disparity is larger in Mindanao, where in some regions, especially Region 13, the internet penetration rate is lower than 17 percent. So, that’s really the target of this development fund,” Dy said, adding the government aims to finish the project by 2028.