Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Sonny Angara disclosed that the budget for the National Broadband Program under the proposed national budget has been increased.
According to Senator Angara, the budget has been increased to ₱1.9 billion from its initial allocation of ₱902 million. He pointed out that the country currently needs to expand its infrastructure since strong internet connection is one of the necessities of the country amidst the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
A government office spends almost ₱350 for every mbps of internet bandwidth or an equivalent of ₱35,000 per month or ₱420,000 per year for an agency’s need of 100 mbps connection.
With the National Broadband Program, the government will save ₱720M on its internet subscription in the first year of implementation.
“In our budget deliberations we went over all of the priorities set by the government and the requirements of the different departments and agencies. We also made sure that our recently-enacted laws would be funded so as not to render them irrelevant.” – PTV News
