PH to complete national fiber backbone project by June 2026

The project aims to improve fiber connections across the country.

DICT Secretary Henry Aguda during his keynote speech at the 8th CXO Tech Summit

Leading fiber connectivity in the ASEAN

The Philippine government aims to launch the fifth phase of its National Fiber Backbone by June next year, marking the completion of the project, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Matatapos yung National Fiber Backbone before the next SONA by June. A project that people are saying can only be completed beyond 2028 will be completed two years ahead of schedule, DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said during his keynote speech at the 8th CXO Tech Summit at the Shangri-La Boracay.

The department in August launched phases four and five of the project under the PHP 16.1-billion Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project. The last two phases cover southern Luzon and parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.

According to Aguda, Phases one to three have been completed, establishing fiber infrastructure from the north until Tacloban.

The national broadband project

Once completed, the project will be the "largest and most robust fiber optic backbone that is sovereign owned," the DICT chief said.

The Philippines has tapped the World Bank to complete the last two phases. The DICT earlier obtained a USD 287.24 million or around PHP 16.70 billion loan from the bank for phases 4 and 5.

Aguda said the improvement of the country's fiber connectivity will help improve its ranking among ASEAN countries when it comes to fiber backbone, which is at fifth.

Ang gusto po natin, 'yung sixth sa mobile broadband, fifth sa fiber, dapat at least one or two tayo, he said.

Aguda said the fiber infrastructure will also support the two terabit-per-second bandwidth allocation from global technology giant Meta

Ano magagawa ng two terabyte? Mafafiberize na 'nya lahat ng government offices, he said. All we need to do is to connect it to the fiber optic backbone ng Pilipinas.

DICT is already utilizing 100 gigabits-per-second of the capacity under the Phase 1 of the National Fiber Backbone project, providing faster and more affordable connectivity to government offices, schools, and communities. The planned activation of the full 2Tbps represents a 20-fold increase in capacity.

Aguda said Central Luzon has committed to complete the deployment by first half of next year, Ilocos Region by end of the year, and Western Visayas by end of 2026.

So the Philippines would have the most fiber infrastructure in ASEAN, he said

What do you think guys?

Via: BCDA