The Tagbilaran City government is undergoing negotiations involving its plan to set up free internet access in public places in the city including bus terminals and the province’s lone airport.

According to City Administrator Leonides “Edi” Borja, the city government is already in talks with the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. as it moves to put up free Wi-Fi connections across key areas in the city.

The said Wi-Fi hotspots are likely to be set up first within the facilities of the Dao Integrated Bus Terminal and the Tagbilaran Airport.

Borja told DYRD Balita that the city government is moving to implement the initiative following President Rodrigo Duterte’s vow to put up Wi-Fi hotspots in seaport, airport and bus terminals, among other public places.

Previously, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) in the city also announced that it will set up a wireless internet system in August or September this year.

The city’s seaport will reportedly be installed with a high-speed internet connection which has download speeds reaching 30 Mbps (megabits per second) or 3.75 MBps (megabytes per second).

James Gantalao, Tagbilaran PPA manager, said that seaports in various provinces are also starting to offer free Wi-Fi to the public.

National officials of the PPA have started to urge local offices of the agency to set up internet hotspots in passenger terminals, Gantalao added.

In his first State of the Nation Address, Duterte vowed to address the Internet woes of the country which has long been grappling with subpar Internet speeds.

He also said that free Wi-Fi hotspots will be set up in public places across the country. (Allen Doydora)