100% public-school connectivity expected by year’s end, DICT says

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it is expecting to connect all public schools to the internet by the end of 2025.

“We’re at 80%. It just so happened that (there have been) typhoons,” Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Rhoel R. Aguda told reporters last week.

“Our target is 90% (of public schools) by end-November and 100% by December. We had to temporarily pause deployment due to typhoons Tino and Uwan,” he said.

Mr. Aguda said the DICT is looking to connect more schools to its internet nodes ahead of more possible weather disturbances by year’s end.

“Science and Technology Secretary (Renato U.) Solidum, Jr. just informed me that two more (typhoons) are expected. But hopefully, they’ll be weak.”

Internet connectivity in schools is hindered by unreliable electricity and underutilization of state infrastructure budgets, the Second Congressional Commission on Education has said.

The National Fiber Backbone project is expected to result in faster and more reliable internet connectivity in remote areas. About 70 million Filipinos are expected to benefit from the project, the DICT said.

The fourth and fifth phases of the national fiber backbone will be completed next year. It is expected to bring high-speed internet to Mindanao via a 1,000-kilometer high-speed government-owned fiber network connecting Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon, Zamboanga, and Davao.

The first phase, which covers 1,245 kilometers with 28 nodes, links Laoag, Ilocos Norte to Quezon City. It was completed in April last year, and has an initial 600 gigabits per second optical spectrum capacity. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz