00:00More than 13,000 places in the country are now affected by free Wi-Fi by the government.
00:06But the Department of Information and Communications Technologies warned the public
00:11regarding the proper use of it.
00:13That's what Ryan Lasigues reported.
00:17You know, free Wi-Fi is given by the government to us
00:24so that we can use it for online learning, for accessing, you know, many of these government services.
00:32This is not for social media, for posting, you know, dancing or downloading movies, right?
00:45This is what the Department of Information and Communications Technologies warned
00:50to those who use free Wi-Fi in different parts of the country.
00:53In the bill, the Better More Infrastructure Forum of the Presidential Communication Office of PCOs
00:58in New Clark City, Tarlac, D.I.C. Secretary Ivan John Uy laid the reason
01:04why the connection of free Wi-Fi seems to be out of date,
01:08including watching movies and others.
01:12To solve this, D.I.C. will regulate the use of free Wi-Fi.
01:18Implementing a more regulated approach on the free Wi-Fi.
01:24Some people actually really abuse the free Wi-Fi.
01:28They go and watch movies or whatever.
01:31What happens is that it slows down.
01:34So their neighbors can't really use free Wi-Fi because it's full, right?
01:42Traffic. Traffic because they only download videos.
01:46We may start blocking or restricting the free Wi-Fi to access online education sites,
01:54telemedicine sites, e-commerce sites, but not the sites that are non-productive.
02:01Currently, D.I.C. has placed free Wi-Fi in 13,000 places across the country.
02:08And it's already benefiting 10 million people.
02:12D.I.C. has increased the internet speed in the country.
02:17In terms of penetration and speed, we rose by 9 points in our index.
02:27So we started from a very far.
02:31I mean, when we started off, out of the 10 ASEAN countries, we're number 9.
02:39We're number 9.
02:41Today, with the 9-point increase in our scoring, I believe we should be number 7 or number 6 in that ranking.
02:56So we were able to do this in less than two years.
03:00If this trajectory will continue, D.I.C.T. targets to be the top three in all ASEAN countries when it comes to speed of internet connection in 2028.
03:11But D.I.C.T. said that in order to do this, they will need additional funds for this.
03:18Meanwhile, the PCO considers the Build Better More Infraforum,
03:25where President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. discussed various flagship programs of the administration.
03:32Ryan Liziguez for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
