The monetary authorities on Friday acknowledged the problematic state of financial inclusion in islands across the country that do not have a reliable connection to the internet and how this impacts on the broad goal of onboarding Filipinos to the government’s digital transformation program.
This surfaced at the annual convention of the Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) one of whose members raised the matter of lack of wifi connection in quite a lot of places across the country.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) assistant governor Arifa Ala, herself a resident of Lanao province where mobile phone connectivity is a daily challenge, said the issue is being addressed not just by the central bank but the entire government infrastructure.
“I often tell colleagues ahead of time not to call me whenever I go home because I often do not have connectivity,” she said.
But while she made light of the lack of connectivity in her native province, and understands how it must be in many islands across the archipelago, she confidently said that wifi as a service is being addressed by the government.
She noted that the third telco, DITO Telecommunity, apparently has a strong presence in Lanao province.
She also said, without being too specific, that the government is “working in providing that (connectivity) so consumers will have better services” down the line.
DITO Telecommunity recently contracted financing worth $3.9 billion to refinance not just is maturing obligations but also to fund the acquisition and deployment of telecommunications equipment to help its achieve its committed targets sooner.
The telco had said it will use a portion of the funds to pay its contractors and continue rolling out the program designed to make it a significant competitor in the telecommunications space.
