Marcos Jr.’s Free Wi-Fi Program and National Fiber Backbone project will not directly lead to more households being connected to the Internet.
Claim: Marcos Jr.’s Free Wi-Fi Program and National Fiber Backbone project could help increase households connected to the Internet.
Rating: Missing Context
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. highlighted his administration’s Free Wi-Fi Program and National Fiber Backbone project while discussing efforts to improve Wi-Fi access among households in his third State of the Nation Address on Monday.
Marcos Jr. stated that the Free Wi-Fi Program serves 10 million “unique user devices” across over 13,000 locations.
“Sa ating Free Wi-Fi Program, halos sampung milyong unique user devices ang nakikinabang sa libreng internet sa mahigit labintatlong libong lugar sa buong Pilipinas,” he said.
“Nasasagap ito sa marami nating mga paaralan at mga malalayo at liblib na mga pook. Patuloy pa ang ating pinararami ang mga libreng Wi-Fi sa buong bansa.”
He then discussed the completion of Phase 1 of the National Fiber Backbone project, claiming that once completed, it would provide the Philippines with “sufficient capacity in terms of bandwidth.”
After highlighting these projects, the president noted that as of 2022, only 77 percent or 20.6 million households had internet access.
“This is much too low,” he said.
While the initiatives he listed could enhance Wi-Fi access, they do not directly address the issue of low household internet connectivity.
First, the Free Wi-Fi program targets public areas, such as state universities, public hospitals, plazas, and government offices, rather than individual households.
Second, the National Fiber Backbone will not immediately result in increased household Wi-Fi services.
The initial phase of the NFB spans 1,245 kilometers, comprising 28 nodes from Laoag, Ilocos Norte, to Roces District in Quezon City, with an initial optical spectrum capacity of 600 Gbps, according to Malacañang.
This infrastructure is designed to meet the needs of the government and communities along its route, covering at least 14 provinces in Northern and Central Luzon, two National Government data centers, and four Bases Conversion and Development Authority ecozones.
Marcos Jr. said in April that the project would provide digital connectivity to over 3,000 free Wi-Fi sites, but these are located exclusively in public areas.
Citing Department of Information and Communications Technology projections in an April speech, the president said the internet penetration rate in the country could increase to 65 percent from 33 percent, which would benefit about 70 million Filipinos out of the country’s total population of 115 million.
However, an analysis by Fitch Group unit BMI Country Risk & Industry Research this month indicated that the internet population in the Philippines would remain largely unchanged from 2024 to 2033, despite the government’s P16.1-billion Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project to improve broadband infrastructure and the National Fiber Backbone project.
BMI identified affordability as a key issue deterring consumers from subscribing to broadband services, and said fiber connectivity could be expensive in far-flung areas.
“Adoption of fiber broadband at the household level remains to be extremely challenging in the Philippines, and the PDIP may only provide marginal upsides to our outlook,” the BMI report said.
“Specifically, our forecasts are reflective of uptake for household level fiber broadband but only in metropolitan and suburban areas, where disposable income is highest and churn rates lowest,” it added.
In January 2024, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies reported significant disparities in internet access and affordability, particularly in remote regions.
The Philippines ranks third lowest in mobile data affordability, scoring only 47.01 out of 100 in the 2022 Global System for Mobile Communications Mobile Association (GSMA) Connectivity Index.
Additionally, areas like Region VIII and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao experience slower internet speeds, with the fastest broadband in Region VII reaching approximately 40 Mbps. S.V.V. Berba
