MANILA, Philippines — The National Broadband Program (NBP) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) now has a budget of P5.9 billion being proposed in Congress for 2021. This is a significant increase from the previous P902 million approved by the Department of Budget Management (DBM) under the National Expenditure Program. ADVERTISEMENTAccording to Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was defending the DICT budget in Senate budget debates on Friday, the DICT needs at least P18 billion to complete the NBP. “If we consider P5.9 billion, it will cover Phase 1 up to Davao but excluding Regions 1 and 2 and some island provinces like Palawan,” he added. RELATED STORIESHonasan calls for higher 2021 budget for DICTADVERTISEMENTDICT to allocate P13.4B in 2021 budget to improve internet connectivityRead Next

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 20, 2020 03:58 UTC