DICT to ramp up free Wi-Fi sites

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is set to further expand its free Wi-Fi program by adding around 60,000 new sites across the country this year.

“As we speak right now, we keep on installing. In terms of Wi-Fi availability, it’s basically divided into two things, for DICT’s free Wi-Fi it will be about 9,000, but if we include free public internet access including DepEd’s (Department of Education), it will be about between 50,000 and 60,000,” ICT Secretary Henry Rhoel R. Aguda said in a recent interview.

Under the agency’s free Wi-Fi program, the total number of free public internet access points should be 130,000, Mr. Aguda said, noting that the agency has so far achieved only half of this target.

The DICT’s “Free Wi-Fi for All” program provides free public internet services in public areas like schools, health facilities, and underserved markets to help bridge the digital divide.

The program provides commuters between 40 and 60 megabits per second of free internet service, the DICT said.

The DICT said last year that it is hoping to establish up to 70,000 free Wi-Fi sites after having launched 19,000 such sites as of August 2025. — Ashley Erika O. Jose