DICT to bid out P258 million satellite for coastal towns

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is setting aside nearly P258 million for a geostationery earth orbit (GEO) satellite project that would beam internet on coastal towns.

The DICT is bidding out a P257.98-million contract for the GEO Satellite Connectivity Initiative for Coastal Areas to provide internet access to Filipinos living in shoreline communities.

The project will tap an internet service provider (ISP) that would position a GEO satellite above the Philippines, so that it could beam internet onto coastal towns.

Bidders must submit a valid contract and lease agreement with a satellite operator to prove that they have access to a GEO satellite. Further, they must present a satellite map showing that they could cover the 200 sites on the list.

On the ground, the ISP must install very small aperture terminals (VSATs) in each of the towns. The VSATs are in charge of sending and receiving data to and from the GEO satellite, providing internet access to consumers nearby.

The DICT mandates a minimum bandwidth of 50 Mbps for download and 10 Mbps for upload, with latency, or the amount of time for data transfer, limited under 600 milliseconds.

Moreover, the DICT said the ISP must commit to provide unlimited data to users throughout the 360-day coverage of the contract.

The locations traverse Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, going as north as Batanes, as northeast as Ilocos Norte, as isolated as Catanduanes and as south as Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The DICT will hold a pre-bid conference on Sept. 1 and bids will be opened on Sept. 14. The agency is obtaining the budget from the special account in the general fund for the Free Public Internet Access Program.

Private telco Globe Telecom Inc. is also expanding its connectivity coverage in the provinces, as it builds 10 new 5G sites in Pavia, Iloilo. The expansion builds on Globe’s existing backbone of 15 cellular towers in Pavia.

Globe selected Pavia as its latest recipient of 5G sites, as the town builds up its digital landscape for entrepreneurship, farming and tourism.

For Globe, the rollout supports its initiative to install more 5G sites nationwide, complementing the first quarter build of 408 towers that increased 5G coverage to over 98 percent.