LA TRINIDAD, Benguet– The availability of faster and affordable internet service in the remotest barangays in the province is seen to spark development and improve the lives of the people in this vegetable- producing province.
Gov. Crescencio Pacalso is thrilled that Benguet is a beneficiary of the National Broadband Project (NBP) and is positively looking forward to its implementation very soon.
With its mountainous landscape, internet signal in Benguet is very poor.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), National Electrification Administration (NEA) and Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) recently signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the NBP in delivering fast and affordable internet service with Benguet and Baguio City as pilot areas.
The agreement aims to ensure widespread availability of high-speed and affordable broadband in remote and rural areas in the predominantly vegetable producing province of Benguet through the fiber optic cables of BENECO.
BENECO will be the first electric cooperative to deliver high speed, affordable and dependable Internet service with 35 mega-bytes per second (mbps) capability to its customers.
The project will be a big help to school children in their studies and researches and farmers will be informed on the latest technologies to improve their farm produce that will greatly benefit the populace leading to development, Pacalso said.
‘It is the dream of our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to have an internet access all over the country and we share this vision and indeed, Benguet is very lucky to be the first recipient’, he said.
In his first State of the Nation Address, President Duterte directed DICT to prioritize a national broadband plan to advance the country’s internet requirements.
Mars Endi, a farmer from Abatan, Buguias, said the internet project will greatly help them decide when to harvest their crops. Through the internet, they can also access information and technology in improving their farm produce.
The Benguet provincial government is one of the 13 government offices that will initially benefit from this project. **JDP/JBZ- PIA CAR