MANILA – The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) signed an agreement on Friday for a national broadband plan that will help accelerate internet connectivity nationwide.

Under the agreement, the DICT will utilize TransCo’s reserved optical fiber to distribute connectivity from Luzon to Mindanao using the submarine cables that will be laid down by Facebook from the US to Asia.

The agreement plans to expand the internet connectivity in public places for free by building an additional 200,000 access points nationwide by 2022, DICT Officer-In-Charge Eliseo Rio said.

However, this agreement alone is not enough to address all the issues surrounding internet access in the country, he said.

“Marami pang mga problema tayo na kailangan pang i-address. This one will connect the connectivity of underserved and unserved. We are using the facility of the government to bring down the bandwidth from 2 cable landing stations to Mindanao,” Rio said.

The oversight committee, in charge of drafting the terms of reference for the entry of the third major telecommunications player in the country, are set to meet late Friday, he said.

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