An official from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) told a Senate hearing on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 that the Philippine government can provide free Wi-Fi access in Metro Manila in year’s time if provided enough funds.
Based upon the report of GMA News Online, Louis Casambre, the executive director of DOST Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO), said that the bill which proposes to provide free wireless-fidelity connection in the country’s capital is “very implementable.”
“If you consider in Metro Manila, the broadband infrastructure is quite in place, as provided by telecommunications companies. The investment will be more on operating cost and not investment cost,” he said.
Louis Casambre noted that providing free Wi-Fi service in the National Capital Region (NCR) particularly in Metro Manila is “absolutely” necessary for the country’s economic growth. He stressed that the government may need to provide P1 billion a year in order to sustain free Wi-Fi access in Metro Manila.
“For the estimates that we did, the cost of, let’s say, P1 billion a year will support 90,000 simultaneous users. Of course when people access the Internet, it’s not always simultaneous. If you go to that cost, it would be able to support 180,000. With a population of Metro Manila at 11 million, the amount is feasible,” he said.
The DOST official also cited a study conducted by World Bank which suggests growth of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.23% for ever 10 percent in terms of broadband penetration.