The Cebu City Hall. (PNA file photo by John Rey Saavedra)
CEBU CITY – Public schools, barangay halls, public markets and sports gymnasiums in all 80 villages here are now Wi-Fi hotspots, the city government information technology office said on Wednesday.
Conrado Ordesta III, assistant head of the Management Information and Computer Services (MICS), said learners can now use free internet connection in public places of their respective villages.
This developed as the city government allocated PHP8 million to fund the interconnectivity that benefits the public.
Ordesta said the MICS office has just completed this month the installation of the Wi-Fi gadgets in the 22 rural barangays to complete the full hotspot coverage of all 80 villages here.
The program started last year with 50 barangays, he added.
Last year, urban barangays were given access to public Wi-Fi. Those who are citizens of Cebu City can directly connect to the internet for free. Right now, mountain barangays have their connections too, he said.
When they are in school, learners could have an hour of free internet connectivity using public hotspots without the use of a password.
As per MICS monitoring report, the uptown village of Lorega-San Miguel registered the highest free internet connection utilization rate.
MICS monitors hotspot utilization in all the barangays using a dashboard provided by the service provider, PLDT.
In 2018, Cebu City South District Rep. Eduardo Rama Jr., who was then a member of the Cebu City Council, authored the Wireless Internet Access for Educational Institution Ordinance that seeks free Internet connectivity in schools and public places here. (PNA)
