THE government on Friday inaugurated the initial stage of a national connectivity project that is expected to boost the country's development via the delivery of improved internet services.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., speaking at the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) project's first phase, said he envisioned a landscape where the smallest business ventures could easily go online.
"One of the most important aspects that we have always focused upon... is a very big push to bring MSMEs (medium, small and micro enterprises) into the digital space," he said.
"[W]e get to the point where the 'sari-sari' store doesn't sell only to the village... even what we referred to as nano enterprises," he added.
"... I'm talking about the shoeshine boy, the mechanic... all of these nano enterprises will also have access to that and... more opportunities, and that is such an important part of the economic transformation that we are hoping to achieve here in the Philippines."
(From left to right) Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Dr. Rafael Frankel, director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, ΜΕΤΑ usher the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) Phase 1 in Pasay City on Friday, April 19, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/ PPA POOL (From left to right) Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Dr. Rafael Frankel, director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, ΜΕΤΑ usher the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) Phase 1 in Pasay City on Friday, April 19, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/ PPA POOL (From left to right) Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Dr. Rafael Frankel, director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, ΜΕΤΑ usher the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) Phase 1 in Pasay City on Friday, April 19, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/ PPA POOL (From left to right) Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Dr. Rafael Frankel, director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, ΜΕΤΑ usher the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) Phase 1 in Pasay City on Friday, April 19, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/ PPA POOL (From left to right) Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Dr. Rafael Frankel, director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, ΜΕΤΑ usher the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) Phase 1 in Pasay City on Friday, April 19, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/ PPA POOL (From left to right) Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Dr. Rafael Frankel, director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, ΜΕΤΑ usher the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) Phase 1 in Pasay City on Friday, April 19, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/ PPA POOL (From left to right) Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Dr. Rafael Frankel, director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, ΜΕΤΑ usher the launch of the National Fiber Backbone (NFB) Phase 1 in Pasay City on Friday, April 19, 2024. PHOTO BY YUMMIE DINGDING/ PPA POOL
The NFB project's first phase, soft-launched by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) last December, has led to the activation of 28 nodes spanning 1,245 kilometers in total from Laoag, Ilocos Norte, to the Roces District in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Phase 1's 600 gigabits per second optical spectrum will serve the needs of the government and communities, the Presidential Communications Office said, including at least 14 provinces in Northern and Central Luzon, two government data centers and four economic zones administered by the Bases and Conversion Development Authority.
Completion of phase one will also "empower" 346 national and local government offices that are connected to the GovNet system, generating potential savings of over P146 million per year.
More than 3,000 free Wi-Fi sites will benefit and some 750,000 beneficiaries in Metro Manila, and the Ilocos and Central Luzon regions will get direct internet access.
"We look forward to the completion of the five next phases of the National Fiber Backbone project by 2026," Marcos said.
"Once finished, the DICT expects to increase the penetration rate from 33 percent as it is now to 65 percent, reaching 70 million Filipinos out of the current 115 million population nationwide. It will also lower the price to as much as five dollars per Mbps (megabits per second)."
The fiber backbone, the President said, "is the infrastructure that will open employment opportunities, improve market efficiency, attract foreign investments and stimulate livelihood across the different sectors of our economy and our society."
"It will close the digital divide and bring to our people the transformative power of free and fast access to information. It will allow the state to guarantee the people's enjoyment of the internet as a basic human right."
The DICT said that Phase 4 of the NFB would cover sites in the Bicol, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula and Northern Mindanao regions. Phase 5 will involve the Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) region while Phase 6 will be for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Palawan.
The government-owned backbone, which will complement the fiber-optic networks owned and operated by private companies, is expected to span 28,000 kilometers.
Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan Uy said that Phases 2 and 3 could be completed by the end of this year.
"Phase 1 took seven years before it was finally launched... we managed to do a soft launch... back in December 2023. It did work, but there was so much paperwork that needed to be done for this, and we finally finished it in April," he said.
WITH A REPORT FROM ED PAOLO SALTING