Great news for Cebuanos! Yesterday, October 14, 2019, the Department of Information and Communications Technology just launched two FREE WiFi zones in Cebu City. This is to increase the economic activity in the Ramos Public Market and to allow patients of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center to connect to their loved ones. DICT7 believes that providing connections to those who are in the hospital brings relief to patients.
This project is just a part of the nationwide “Free Wi-Fi for All-Free Public Internet Access” Program of the DICT which aims to provide connections to all 81 provinces of the country in order to accelerate the internet accessibility and digitally empower the Filipinos; hence, the ongoing installation of the many other WiFI sites in the local government units of Cebu City, specifically in the barangays.
Now, by simply connecting to “freewififorall” and “gov.net”, those who are within the area of coverage can now access to free internet. According to DICT, this can allow hundreds of online users to connect to the internet. DICT Assistant Secretary Felino Castro also shared that this program was made possible thanks to the support given by Cebu’s Information and Communications Technology Council and the private sector in putting up the WiFi sites. These are available 24 hours every day and can be accessed within 50 meters of market and hospital’s premise with an internet speed of around 40mbps.
Despite
the challenges, DICT targets to finish the installation of 556 WiFi sites in
Cebu. There are already 148 active sites in Cebu – including the ones installed
in Cebu Provincial Capitol, Cebu Pier Terminal, Fort San Pedro, Plaza
Independencia, Plaza Sugbo, and other regional offices – while 410 are still
under construction.
