Iloilo City gets free Wi-Fi from telco

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

FREE Wi-Fi access will soon be available at the Cultural Heritage Tourism Zones of Jaro Plaza in Jaro district and Molo Plaza Complex in Molo district and other district plazas in Iloilo City thanks to the partnership of the Iloilo City government and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart).

On Monday, Mayor Jerry Treñas together with PLDT Enterprise One Visayas AVP and Head Jimmy Chua and PLDT Enterprise Senior Manager Arturo Carandang led the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the city government and Smart for the deployment of free Wi-Fi services in the city.

The free Wi-Fi services will be accessed through the Google Stations of Smart Inc. and will soon be available at the Iloilo City Hall in City Proper district, Esplanade area in Mandurriao district, and other public areas in the metro.

In his Facebook page, Treñas urged Ilonggos to message him once there are specific areas that have slow internet connection.

“They said they will be providing 100Mbps and they told me if we need more bandwidth, they can increase it. Just message me if there are areas that have slow connection so I can inform our providers. I would like to thank my dear friend and classmate, Atty. Ray who is helping me in this dream of mine in making our city a Smart City,” he said.

Meanwhile, PLDT Chief Revenue Officer and Smart President and CEO Alfredo Panlilio said the partnership will boost the efforts of the mayor to level up Iloilo City.

“Through this partnership with Iloilo City, we aim to further boost the efforts of Mayor Treñas and his team in levelling up Iloilo into one of the country’s premier cities, and support the local government’s various programs to uplift the quality of life of its citizens through enhanced public safety and security, education, health, and livelihood services,” he said.

Free Wi-Fi services courtesy of Smart are also readily available in government offices like city and provincial halls, as well as in regional offices of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Land Transportation Office (LTO). (With a report from Iloilo City PIO)