Officials of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) began the discussion on expanding broadband access to households across the country.
NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong met with the key officials of DICT headed by Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio, Jr. and Undersecretary Denis Villorente to explore possible arrangements of bringing broadband connectivity into rural areas by tapping the infrastructure of 121 electric cooperatives (ECs).
During the meeting held on July 6 at the NEA’s Queenie Room in Quezon City, DICT officials gave a presentation of the government’s National Broadband Plan. They underscored the key roles the NEA and the ECs have to play in ensuring the successful implementation of the project.
“This is very important because NEA has already access to 95 percent of households, especially in rural areas,” Rio said, adding that the ECs supervised by the NEA can be internet service providers (ISPs) in their respective coverage areas.
“We’ll give you the internet access and you can bring it to your client. Then, they can now enjoy their electricity and they have internet access. This is also an added income,” the official added.
Administrator Masongsong described the meeting “a welcome development,” and expressed the state-run agency’s strong support to the government’s National Broadband Plan.
“We will support the National Broadband Plan of the government. We will work hand-in-hand and we will take care of the electric cooperatives,” he said.
The NEA chief said some ECs, particularly those in Mindanao, already have fiber-optic infrastructure in place so it would be easier for them to provide Internet services to communities they serve.
Both NEA and DICT agreed to form a technical working group that will draft the framework agreement, which will include the financial arrangement with the ECs that have existing fiber optic cables in their distribution lines and possible funding for power utilities, which do not have fiber on their grid.
Last June 8, DICT signed a tripartite agreement with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) for the utilization of spare optical fiber to accelerate the implementation of the National Broadband Plan.
Under the agreement, the DICT is given the right to use and/or access certain spare Fiber Optic Cores (FOCs), vacant lots, tower spaces and related facilities of the NGCP, the current concessionaire of the TransCo-owned grid.
Also present at the meeting were NEA Deputy Administrators Sonia San Diego (Electric Cooperatives Management Services) and Artis Nikki Tortola (Technical Services), Information Technology and Communication Services Department (ITCSD) Manager Roderick Padua, Office for Performance Assessment and Special Studies (OPASS) Department Manager Ana Rosa Papa, Management and Consultancy Services Office Acting Department Manager Reynaldo Cuevas, and Information Technology and Systems Development Division Manager Shirley Salvador. ###