Secretary Rodolfo Salalima of the newly created Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Wednesday said President Rodrigo Duterte had given the marching orders to craft a national broadband network.
Salalima made this statement as he attended the first public hearing conducted by the House of Representatives committee on information and communications technology.
He said the DICT met with the President last week and offered three options for a national broadband plan, one of which, he said—the installation of a broadband plan from scratch—would cost the government a whopping P77 billion to P199 billion.
The secretary pointed out that the plan could cost cheaper with the existing fiber optic technology running through the country.
He also said the national broadband plan would be expensive because it would wire not only government agencies but also the unserved areas outside government offices.
“The national broadband plan (would also cover) the unserved areas outside of government offices … If we need to have a broadband plan to have services to government and probably to the unserved areas in the countryside, then we would need a (national) broadband network,” Salalima said.
Salalima, however, said it could not yet implement such an ambitious project with only an approved budget of P3.5 billion for DICT and its attached agencies.
He said the department would then seek the House approval for a supplemental budget.
Grilled by lawmakers over the costliness of the project, Salalima said the department would entertain proposals from different stakeholders once the President makes a choice on the viable model for the national broadband.
“When we proposed to the President, we said, once the President makes a choice, we’ll formally ask stakeholders for their contributions,” Salalima said.
President Duterte cited the need for a national broadband plan in his first State of the Nation Address.
READ: Duterte pitches plans for better internet, free Wi-Fi
The national broadband plan under the administration of then President Gloria Arroyo was scuttled following allegations of overpricing and graft in the procurement with Chinese firm ZTE. The Sandiganbayan later dismissed the graft and breach of ethical conduct charges against Arroyo and other officials over what came to be known as the NBN-ZTE scandal.
DICT Undersecretary Jorge Sarmiento, meanwhile, during the hearing said the President also gave the marching orders to set up a national government portal to centralize different services and transactions with the government, such as the application for passports, registration for birth and death certificate, among others, using a digital signature.
RELATED STORIES