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| LBI Agreement Signing last Nov. 15, 2017 |
The recent statement by Alibaba founder Jack Ma spelled out the reasons why the country is lagging behind its ASEAN neighbors in economic development. The internet speed in the country leaves much to be desired. In order for the country to match up with its regional neighbors, the internet speed currently prevailing must be improved upon.
But the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) are going into proactive efforts in addressing the concerns.
In cooperation with the Bases Conversion Authority and EDGE (Facebook), the logjam will be addressed by the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI) project.
This is the first time that the government of the Philippines will handle the bull by the horns by building and operating its first submarine landing operations.
“The signing of the Landing Party Agreement or LPA between the DICT, BCDA, and EDGE for the Philippine government’s first cable landing stations under the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure Project is a major milestone in the history of ICT development in our country,” said DOST Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña during the formal unveiling last November 15, 2017 in Taguig City.
This means that the government will be building an ultra high-speed internet infrastructure or backbone that will be operational by the year 2019. The objective is to reach up to speeds of 100 Mbps.
This will consist of a 250-kilometer cable landing network corridor being constructed by the government while EDGE will build and operate the submarine cable that will connect the Luzon grid with the U.S. and Asia.
According to DOST Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña , the government program will provide international connections to local businesses and strengthen the country's digital bridge to the rest of the world. While the signing of the LPA is a major step in that direction, there is still the need to complement this with efforts on last mile infrastructure and in promoting local Internet exchanges which the government is doing via the Free Wi-Fi, iGov, and PHOpenIX initiatives.
EDGE (Facebook) will provide the country with 2 Terabytes per second (2Tbps) bandwidth. The DICT will provide operations and maintenance of the facilities for a period of 25 years.
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