BAGUIO CITY – Some two hundred remote sites in the different parts of the Cordillera are now being surveyed by technical personnel of the Cordillera office of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT-CAR) for the proposed installation of satellites that will improve the connectivity of the communities.
However, DICT-CAR regional director Engr. Rey Parnacio declined to divulge the actual sites being surveyed pending their completion of the surveys without being unduly interrupted.
He claimed that the remote areas in the region have been found to be feasible for the installation of satellites to allow the connectivity of the 4th to 6th class municipalities to the worldwide web and allow people to access the internet and connect to the world.
The DICT-CAR official reported the current work of the agency is the survey of the proposed sites for the setting up of satellites to guarantee connectivity in most parts of the region to make them at par with other areas in the country that have internet signals.
He said that the agency’s 6-year development plan under the present administration is focused on the interconnectivity of most remote villages in the country so that people will benefit from digitalization through easier access to the internet which is now one of the major thrusts of the government in the light of the heavy impact inflicted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to the economic activities and sources of livelihood of the people.
According to him, many remote communities in the region have yet to be connected to the internet and the government is investing on the feasible and most efficient means of ensuring connectivity which is through the satellites, thus, the ongoing survey of possible sites where these can be installed, more particularly in 4th to 6th class municipalities.
Earlier, concerned local officials from the different parts of the region have prodded various government agencies and the private sector to ensure the connectivity of their respective areas of jurisdiction so that they will be able to avail of the benefits of digitalization aside from making available to their constituencies opportunities provided in the information and communication age.
The Cordillera is one of the regions that is not yet fully connected to the internet making it very difficult for people to interact with others in the different parts of the world even in the comfort of their homes and without having to travel just to transact businesses with concerned offices and the private sector.
Moreover, the local governments claimed the efforts of telecommunication companies to bring their services to the remote communities is not actually sufficient because of the low return on their investment due to the limited number of subscribers in their proposed service areas.