Philippines to offer free Wi-Fi nationwide by 2016

Image credit: Life Hacker

       The government of Philippines is offering free Wi-Fi services to the entire nation. A project which starts this year and will be completed by the end of 2016.

Bloomberg reports that this project will cost the about 1.5 billion pesos ($32 million) yearly, and this service will be available in public places such as hospitals,schools, airports and parks.

This new plan will affect the Philippines’ two largest telecoms, Philippine Long Distance Telephone and Globe Telecom. These companies might be forced to come out with a better plan for data usage to keep many of their customers.

Monchito Ibrahim, deputy executive director of the Information and Communications Technology Office, said in an interview in Makati City: "If subscribers move to using free public Wi-Fi, telecoms may need to lure them into getting higher-end services."

"The free Wi-Fi service has its limitations. Speed is capped at 256 kilobits per second, (which) is enough for basic Internet searches or access to Facebook," he added.

Philippines is not the first nation to adopt this policy. In 2003 Polynesian island-nation of Niue became the world's first Wi-Fi nation, which provided free wireless Internet access throughout the country.

Also, the legislative arm of government in Delhi, India recently proposed a plan to offer free Wi-Fi usage up to one gigabyte per month throughout the entire city.

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