BATANGAS CITY (PIA) — Expect more free public wifi in the Calabarzon region as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is looking to onboard more public areas to benefit from its National Broadband Program (NBP).
To date, the DICT has installed free wifi in 518 strategic locations with 1,111 active access sites in Region IV-A such as town halls and public markets.
DICT IV-A Regional Director Felix Tabanao Jr. said the project will cost over P100 million to facilitate the installation of free public wi-fi and other IT infrastructure in other areas such as transport terminals, seaports, airports, among others.
“The entirety of the (NBP), considering that from the middle mile to the last mile could cost over a P100 trillion. Our national government, through Congress, is allocating funds for free public Wi-Fi and the national broadband,” Tabanao said in an episode of Philippine Information Agency’s Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas program.
The NBP is designed to build a stronger, more reliable digital payment system.
For the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), utilizing digital payment minimizes the risk of encountering counterfeit money in transactions payment of goods and services.
“One benefit of using digital payments is that it can help prevent fake or counterfeit money from being used. We know that as the holiday season approaches, the circulation of counterfeit money also rises. And we can prevent this is we use digital money,” lawyer Dennis Gamaya, Area Director for BSP Lucena said.
Glen, a market vendor from Calamba City, believes that using digital payment platforms like the BSP PalengQR provides convenience to business owners.
“Transactions will be faster because our customers will only need to send the exact amount for their purchase. Salespeople won’t have to deal with exchanging money, and they won’t need coins, so the money will always be exact.”
Similarly, Joemil is just one of the many local tricycle drivers who has started using digital payment platforms as a payment option to the riding public.
“It will be great for us and the passengers because we all have digital wallet accounts,” he said.
In 2023, the BSP reported that usage of digital platforms in transactions ballooned to 52 percent from only one percent in 2013. The Central Bank said the fast rise of digital payment platforms indicates that more Filipinos opt to use digital platforms for financial transactions. (PB/PIA-4A)
The Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas is a weekly media forum program of the Philippine Information Agency, in partnership with the Presidential Communications Office, highlighting the programs, projects, and policies of the national government under the Bagong Pilipinas governance agenda of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s administration.
