PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan (PIA) -- The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has recently activated 37 sites of the BroadBand ng Masa Project in the province of Palawan.

At the flick of the ceremonial digital switch, the DICT showed the project’s 37 locations with 129 hot spots.

DICT Assistant Secretary Philip Varilla said 23 of those locations are in tourist spots, nine are in barangay health stations, and five locations with hotspots are via geostationary satellite.

“Sites are located in tourist spots; we have a technology-neutral approach to providing internet service in tourist spots,” he said.

Some of the towns included are Busuanga, Coron, Culion, Cuyo, El Nido, Taytay, San Vicente, Roxas, and Puerto Princesa City, Narra.

These sites are additional to DICT’s free connectivity project, which also covers state universities and colleges (SUCs).

“One project is actually on SUCs; we have some SUCs that are very far, and they only get internet service from our Free Wi-Fi for All program,” he added.

DICT Assistant Secretary Maria Teresa Camba underscored the department’s commitment to providing reliable and fast internet connectivity to geographically isolated and hard-to-reach localities.

“Access to the internet is essential to economic development, education, and social inclusion,” she said. (RG/PIA Mimaropa - Palawan)