PALO, Leyte, November 11(PIA) – In the next few days, people living this town will already enjoy free wifi internet access in public places as an agreement was signed by one of the top officials of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) and the town’s lady mayor.
The signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Juan Konek Free Wi-Fi Internet Access in Public Places was signed by DICT Undersecretary for Management and Operations Jorge V. Sarmiento and Palo Mayor Remedios L. Petilla.
The signing of MOA was one of the highlights in the opening day of the two-day 8th National ICT Summit held at the Leyte Academic Center Gymnasium this town, Thursday, November 10. The Juan Konek Free Wi-Fi Internet Access in Public Places Project aims to accelerate the government’s efforts in enhancing Internet accessibility for Filipinos to accelerate economic, social and educational opportunities in order to address the growing Digital Divide.
It is a P1.4 B worth project of the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communication Technology (DOST-ICT) which is aimed to connect 99 percent of the country a free internet access in selected public places all across the country with priority on 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class towns.
Eric Toledo, project manager and director of Juan Konek, who presented the Juan Konek Project in the 8th National ICT Summit, said that public places in Palo town like public schools, plaza, rural health units as well as public libraries and other public places will be installed with free wi-fi internet access.
Toledo also revealed that a total of 62 towns in Leyte province will be connected to the Juan Konek free internet connectivity including 23 sites in Tacloban City. He also reported that there will be 669 towns in the whole country that will be connected to free wi-fi internet access by the end of 2016. (rvictoria/PIA Biliran)
