The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) signed a master lease agreement for the co-location of infrastructure that would boost the implementation of the National Broadband Plan (NBP).
“What we signed today is the master lease agreement because we would have to co-locate our facilities inside the NGCP infrastructure. This signifies a milestone in the program as we will be using the dark fiber available through the NGCP,” DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said during a ceremonial signing on Wednesday.
According to NGCP president and CEO Anthony Almeda, the agreement will allow DICT to place its equipment in the company’s substation.
“We support the government’s NBP and we will take part in providing the country with fast and affordable internet access. We believe that this will support innovation and expansion among various industries and boost economic recovery,” Almeda said.
The NGCP holds a 25-year franchise to solely operate the transmission assets of the government under the Republic Act 9511 signed in 2008.
The NBP involves the creation of a single digital backbone to fire up faster Internet services across 12 provinces.
In 2017, the government partnered with Facebook, now Meta, to create a cable landing system that would improve the country’s Internet capacity by up to 2 terabits per second, which will be beneficial particularly to geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.
Under the partnership, Facebook will construct and operate a cable system that will land in the cable stations in Baler, Aurora, and Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union.