Skip to main content

Entry of third telco excites Ilocos netizens

By
By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter

LAOAG CITY—Ilocos netizens here are eagerly awaiting the entry of a third telecom player, which they expect to break duopoly of communication firms in the country.

This is one of the good news Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque shared in his recent visit to Laoag as he reported that they have discussed in a cabinet meeting the improvement of the country’s internet connectivity.

Like in most parts of the country, residents here have been complaining a lot about the poor internet service provided by the two telecom firms.

“I hope the new telco challenger will compete against the two big players in the industry and ensure no consolidation,” said Roger dela Cruz, an information technology graduate from San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte.

In social networking sites, rants about crawling internet connectivity both from private and public consumers are a common status posts in the Philippines, having the lowest internet speed in Asia Pacific.

“We are at a point in life when it would be more efficient and productive to travel to Vietnam and sit and work outside a hotel with free public wi-fi than to depend on this country’s connectivity,” said Mizpah Grace Castro of Laoag City as she underscored “reliable internet is a basic service and not a luxury.”

While in Laoag City, Mr. Roque said in a press conference the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is set to establish a national broadband in support to building a reliable telco infrastructure.

Under the government’s watch, Mr. Roque said the DICT has on-going contract with Facebook building a bypass facility in Baler, Aurora and in Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union.

Once completed, the government will get two terabits per second of the international bandwidth “free of charge” which means more installation of public wi-fi with better access across the country. 

“The right to have internet access is now recognized as an economic social cultural right. So, we are tapping other infrastructure para mapapabilis at mapaparami ang internet,” Mr. Roque said.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By
By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become...
14 comments
Read more

2020 Laoag City Traffic Code

By
  Republic of the Philippines Province of Ilocos Norte CITY OF LAOAG   SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD   EXCERPT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE 58 TH REGULAR SESSION OF THE 11 TH SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD OF LAOAG HELD AT THE SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD SESSION HALL, LAOAG CITY ON OCTOBER 14, 2020. PRESENT: 1.        Hon. Vicentito M. Lazo                                                 City Vice-Mayor/Presiding Officer Hon. Juan Conrado A. Respicio II                                              S.P....
44 comments
Read more

Marcos town celebrates 3rd Pinakbet Festival

By
MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—Taking pride of this town ’s favorite Ilo cano dish, locally known as pinakbet, a mix of indigenous vegetables steamed in fish sauce, residents here ushered the opening of the third Pinakbet festival. “Pinakbet” came from the contracted Ilokano word ‘pinakebbet ’ which means “ shrunk ” or “shriveled.” As a way of thanksgiving, the Pinakbet festival is a repository of the town ’ s “ani” [harvest] festival being celebrated every month of March but this was later moved to December to accommodate more balikbayans wanting to join the festivity. Residents in this agricultural town derived most of their income from the harvest of high value crops, including rice, tobacco and corn as staple crops. This year, the week-long festivity highlighted a grand parade around the town plaza and a pinakbet cook fest at the municipal gymnasium to showcase the best pinakbet in town. A boodle fight followed suit. Earlier, a fun run was participated by various groups ...
Post a Comment
Read more