MANILA -  The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is considering ending the government’s free unlimited wifi program.

At the Fiber Connect APAC Conference 2024 organized by the Fiber Network Council APAC, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said the free wifi program has been a huge success with a high utilization rate in most of the 13,000 sites. However, they noticed many are abusing the free internet connection and using it to download movies from illegal sites and other unproductive online activities.

“We need to find ways to perhaps regulate already the utilization. because now it’s unli, napapansin namin ginagamit for very unproductive purposes,” said Uy.

Though no timeline has been set, Uy said one possible scenario is they could still offer free internet connection for the first 100 MB, for example, but may charge succeeding data. Or the government could also set a bigger data allocation only for students or those who most need the internet connection.

On top of this, Uy revealed the government is reviewing the free wifi program to make it more sustainable because maintaining thousands of sites is costly. And as they add more free wifi sites, maintenance cost also rises with it.

“The more ‘free wifi’ we deploy, the higher the maintenance fee. Katulad ngayon 13,000 and we’re spending mga P4 billion or 5 billion. Kung next year we add another 13,000, we still have to maintain the previous 13,000, so kung P4 billion ginastos mo ngayon, next year dapat P8 billion,” Uy said.

He said the free wifi law mandates a spectrum users' fee from internet providers, and this is where they get funds to maintain free wifi spots. But he said it may not be enough in the long run.

“Kakapusin yung spectrum users fee natin, hindi kayang komolekta on that scale, on that multiplier to sustain. We need to find some new formula in order to be able to do so, in order to sustain it,” he said.

They are still reviewing what model to use in order to increase the number of free wifi spots, but won’t be a burden to the budget of the department.

As the government expands its free wifi service, many telcos are also implementing measures to make internet connection more affordable. Converge, for example, has unveiled a program to make fiber internet more accessible.

“Prepaid fiber with just P50 you can already enjoy unlimited internet for the whole day. Isa sa mga solusyon naming ginawa para maging affordable ang fiber sa mga Pilipino,” said Paulo Martin Santos, Chief Network Transformation Officer, Converge.

Other telcos are also beefing up their internet connection with various promos as more Filipinos demand for more reliable and affordable internet connection.