Free Wi-Fi Internet in Public Places Project Launched at National Science and Technology Week 2015

Wazzup Pilipinas!

From the press conference held a few days ago, there are already certain places in Quezon City and Manila, namely Quezon City Memorial Circle, Quezon City Hall, PHILCOA, Social Security Sysyem, LTO in Quezon City, and Rizal Park) that has the free Internet sharing called Free Wi-Fi Internet in Public Places project (and dubbed as Juan Konek) of the government spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology- Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO). This was done to help the ICTO in assessing the system and make the necessary adjustment before they roll out the project on a larger scale.

The project was formally launched last July 24 during the 2015 National Science and Technology Week (NSTW)held at the SMX Convention Center Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay city from July 24  to 28 along with other project announcements and updates from mostly the government sector and their partners.

Senator Ralph Recto was the guest of honor in the launching of the free Wi-Fi project and was joined by DOST Secretary Mario Montejo, OST Usec Napoleon Casambre, and other personalities.

The increase in Internet connnectivity will jumpstart economic development by giving the people access to e-Commerce, e-Learning, and e-Government tools found online. The beneficiaries can engage in online jobs or selling to help them get decent income while allowing them to stay with their families. Even Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) will highly benefit from this project.

Getting Internet access through the existing ISPs within the areas will be the primary source of connectivity and for those without any broadband, the DOST-ICTO intends to use TV White Space (TVWS) technologies which refers to the vacant frequencies located between broadcast TV channels.

It is said that the pilot sites like Tubigon and Talibon in Bohol are already benefiting from the project. Full implementation of the project is expected to serve 105,000 concurrent users with 256 kbps each but with a data-volume-based fair usage policy to promote an equitable distribution of public service.

DILG Secretary Mar Roxas earlier declared the cooperation of the many local government units (LGUs) in the project to modernize and make us globally competitive with the rest of the world. A press conference was also held after the opening ceremonies of NSTW  where the panel was composed of DOST Secretary Mario Montejo, DOST Science and Technology Information Institute (STII) Asec and OIC Raymund Liboro, DOST Usec for Scientific and Technological Services Dr. Rowena Cristina Guevara, and moderated by the Chief of the Communication Resources and Production Division of STII Dr. Aristotle Carandang.

There were also several exhibits spread throughout the halls of the SMX as well as other function rooms of the establishment where they conducted breakout sessions and talks happening for the entire week of NSTW 2015.

I will be featuring more stories from DOST soon and uploading videos from the speeches and press conferences as soon as our Internet connection improves. For the meantime, please chekc our official Facebook fan page for updates: http://www.facebook.com/wazzuppilipinas

About "WazzupPilipinas.com"

WazzupPilipinas.com is the fastest growing and most awarded blog and social media community that has transcended beyond online media. It has successfully collaborated with all forms of media namely print, radio and television making it the most diverse multimedia organization. The numerous collaborations with hundreds of brands and organizations as online media partner and brand ambassador makes WazzupPilipinas.com a truly successful advocate of everything about the Philippines, and even more since its support extends further to even international organizations including startups and SMEs that have made our country their second home.