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Poe sees TV frequency to boost effort to provide internet to remote islands

MANILA, Jan. 7 (PNA) – Senator Grace Poe has urged the Department of Science Technology (DOST) to deploy its successful TV frequency-based technology to provide Internet access to more public schools and rural health facilities in far-flung islands, particularly in the Visayas.

The technology, called TV White Space (TVWS), taps unutilized television broadcast frequencies in the VHF and UHF bands to bring high-speed Internet to remote areas.

In the Philippines, it was piloted in Bohol, where it has connected 26 public schools and community centers in the municipalities of Tubigon, Talibon, Ubay, Bien Unido, Trinidad and Carlos P. Garcia.

TV White Space has benefited more than 250,000 people, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the private partners of the DOST for the project. Other parties in the public-private partnership are Microsoft and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

“Those who live on our islands and coastal communities should have the same access to the Internet and other services as those in urban areas. This is what inclusive growth is about,” Poe said as she and running mate Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero visited Tagbilaran, Bohol on Thursday.

“We must use the TV White Space technology to bring basic social services to the farthest parts of the Philippines. Studies have shown that school-aged children who have access to the Net have a higher chance of making it in school,” she said.

Citing the ICT Manifesto for the Philippines for 2016 and Beyond, Poe said having a device and Internet access help kids by improving their engagement with society, and increasing their chances of finishing high school.

The manifesto, prepared by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Microsoft and released on Nov. 25, said an investment of 1,000 dollars in a device or Internet access would translate into an increase of 49,000 dollars in an individual’s earning potential.

“In this age, reliable and free access to technology is a basic right that everyone, especially those from the marginalized sectors and rural communities, should enjoy. We have to bridge the technology divide if we want to bridge the economic gaps in the country,” Poe said.

Poe and Escudero, who lead the presidential and vice-presidential surveys, respectively, have been championing faster and more affordable Internet service for all Filipinos.

The DOST describes TV White Space as “an ideal wireless data delivery medium for the Philippines, with its long distance propagation characteristics and the ability of its signals to travel over water and through thick foliage.”

Poe said TV White Space would benefit fishing communities like Carles, a second-class municipality in Iloilo famous for the Gigantes Islands, where people rely on the power generator that provides electricity only from 6 pm to 6 am.

Aside from connecting schools and hospitals, TV White Space also provides a means of communication during disaster response, the senator said.

This has been proven in the aftermath of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol and Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, the United Nations Broadband Commission said. (PNA)

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