Former DICT official blasts ‘anomalous’ free WiFi deals

MANILA, Philippines — Former Department of Information and Communications Technology acting secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. lambasted the DICT’s alleged anomalous and overpriced deals with the VSAT (very small aperture terminal) internet connectivity for the Free Wifi in Public Places program, which the agency had sought to replace the scrapped contract with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In a post on his Facebook account yesterday, Rio said the DICT transactions were under the cloak of an emergency procurement under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Law (Republic Act 11494), to do away with a transparent and competitive public bidding.

“The awards were undertakings pursuant to RA 11494, where procurement may be done without the bidding process for providing COVID-19 Response and Recovery Interventions,” Rio said in his post.

Rio noted that in the award of the contract to the four winning VSAT connectivity suppliers – Philcomsat, WIT, IONE and BIZOLUTION – the scope of the project was specified as covering provision of “Managed Internet Service - VSAT Network Services for Quarantine Centers and Medical Facilities.”

“Yet, almost all quarantine centers and medical facilities involved in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery are located in areas adequately served by local commercial terrestrial telcos/ISPs that can give much more economical, cost-effective and sustainable services for this Free Wifi Project of DICT than these very expensive VSAT providers that were awarded almost half a billion pesos for a period of only five months,” Rio said.

“It almost seems that the Terms of Reference for this project were tailor-made to eliminate these commercial telcos/ISPs in favor of these VSAT providers, without the bidding process. And how in heaven’s name can a period of five months even make a dent in a pandemic crisis that may take several months?” Rio asked.

He said the DICT had awarded a contract worth P112,500,000 to Philcomsat to provide connectivity to 250 sites in Luzon; WIT, P115,650,000 for 257 sites in Luzon; IONE, P97,829,000 for 215 sites in Visayas; and BIZOLUTION, P140,615,250 for 313 sites in Mindanao.

“All these for a total of P466,594,250 for only 1,035 sites for only a period of five months,” Rio said.

Rio said it was highly questionable why DICT would opt for VSAT internet connectivity in urban areas.

“The center of gravity of the pandemic is Metro Manila. And we have a lot of (internet) providers here. The other centers of gravity are also in urban areas, in Cebu, in Davao,” Rio told The STAR in a phone interview. “There are almost none in rural areas in provinces.”

VSAT connectivity, not the best suited for urban areas, was also expensive.

He noted that the DICT, under the leadership of Secretary Gregorio Honasan, had been keen to scrap the contract struck with the UNDP for an internet connectivity supplier to the Free Wifi Program, and then went on to award the contracts late last year without public bidding.

Meanwhile, Rio is willing to give third telco, DITO Telecommunity, some slack to roll out its network infrastructure to make good on service commitments, saying it could face birth pains in efforts to establish operations in the country.

He said that DITO had itself set committed to the highest level of service to get the frequencies allowing it to become a potential third telco in 2018, which award of frequencies the national government can revoke if standards are not met.

“If they don’t pass it, they stop. The performance bond is in the hands of the government,” Rio pointed out, referring to the P25-billion performance bond given by the telco as guarantee for its commitment to invest a total of P257 billion on infrastructure and operations.

As part of the issuance of its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in July 2019, DITO was mandated to deliver its commitments of 37.03 percent national population coverage with a minimum average broadband speed of 27Mbps in its first year of operation.

The company was able to pass its first audit, with minimum average broadband speed recorded at 85.9Mbps for 4G, and 507.5Mbps for 5G, and first year national population coverage of 37.48 percent.

President Duterte recently signed a 25-yearfranchise for DITO.