Government launches free hi-speed WiFi along EDSA

To help improve public access to the internet, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), yesterday launched the “EDSA WiFi” project which aims to give free internet access to commuters along the 24-kilometer stretch of Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare.

“People would be more connected as a result of better communication,” said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella in a report by the Philippine Star.

The government tapped the service providers Globe Telecom and PLDT, Inc. to install the WiFi service.

For now, the service may only be accessed at all 13 MRT stations from Taft to North EDSA, and from Guadalupe to Cubao at street level. The government plans to complete the project before the President’s State of the Nation Address in July.

According to ABS-CBN News, there are currently 2 IDs for the free WiFi service: “FREE EDSA wifi” and “Juan Konek, ” but they plan to merge them into one id, which is “PipolKonek.”

Free wi-fi in public areas was among the promises made by President Rodrigo Duterte in his first State of the Nation Address last year.

Aside from the EDSA WiFi project, DICT also rolled out free WiFi access in public areas across the country in an umbrella project called “Pipol Connect.” According to its website, at least 54 public schools, 50 parks, and 98 rural health units were turned into WiFi hotspots under the project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons