情報通信技術省（DICT）の元職員は、政府が5ヶ月間という短期間、国内の様々な場所で無料Wi-fiを提供するために支払った金額、4億6600ペソが高すぎると考えています。また、価格が高くなったのは「Netflixに対応するために通信速度を上げるため」というDICTの正当化にも疑問を呈しました。

元職員は「国の無料wi-fiは、市民がオンラインの政府サービスを利用したり、家族と話したり、そしてなにより教育のためのものです。」と述べます。人々はNetflixを見たり、ゲームをするために公共のWi-Fiを利用しているわけではないのだから通信速度を追求する必要はないとも述べています。

一方、DICT側はこの主張に反論しました。DICTによると、元のフィリピンWi-fiの速度の遅さは時代に見合わず、このプロジェクトは価格に見合った価値があると説明しています。

専門的な通信技術についてはわかりませんが、コロナ禍において通信の一早い改善が求められていることは間違いありません。人々に自粛を呼びかけるためにも、ネット環境を整えることは重要でしょう。通信の強さによって生活にも有利不利が影響するコロナ禍。フィリピンの通信事情にも注目です。

以下、ABS-CBN NEWSより

‘Para makanood ng Netflix?’ Ex-DICT official hits P466-M price tag for free wifi project

A former official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) believes the government paid too much money for a 5-month contract to provide free wifi in different parts of the country.

Speaking to ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo, ex-DICT OIC Eliseo Rio questioned the P466 million awarded to four companies for the government’s Free WiFi Internet Access in Public Places Project.

He noted the award will only give free wifi to the public for 5 months. “What can be done in 5 months?” he asked.

Rio also questioned the DICT’s justification that the higher price was “because of the speed para makapagpanood ng Netflix.”

“Kung Netflix, bakit kailangan bayaran ng gobyerno? Let them pay. Itong ating mga free wifi ito ay para ang citizens natin makapag-apply ng online government services, makapag-usap sa kanilang mga pamilya…and education,” he told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo Wednesday.

(Our free wi-fi is for citizens to avail of online government services, talk to their family…and for education.)

“Di mo kailangan ng speed d’yan… Anong relasyon ng speed sa public wi-fi. ‘Di pumupunta ang tao sa public wi-fi para manood ng Netflix o mag-games.”

(You don’t need speed. What’s the relation of speed to public wi-fi? People don’t avail of public wi-fi to watch Netflix or play games.)

DICT Undersecretary Manny Caintic meanwhile disputed Rio’s claims that their project was overpriced. Caintic explained that their project gave more value for money.
“The UNDP project, we noticed, had a maximum internet rate of 2 Mbps only and a committed internet rate of only 200 kilobits per second. In today’s time this is a very very slow internet speed,” he said.

Caintic maintained that their project now is ten times cheaper per Mbps.

“Hindi po totoo na overpriced. For the price of the internet we are providing now substantially mas maganda ang user experience ng mga tao,” he said.

Rio meanwhile said Caintic did not understand the satellite technology that was used in the UNDP project.

“Usec. Caintic is not a telco man. He has no license in ECE [electronics and communications engineering]. He may not know VSAT [very small aperture terminal] is limited in speed you cannot put in so many megabits.”

Rio also questioned the award of P112,500,000 to Philcomsat for 250 sites, saying the company is a subcontractor in the DICT-UNDP Project and could have easily rolled-out these 250 sites at no cost to the government.