KIDAPAWAN CITY – Residents of this city now enjoys free internet connection as the city government launched the project at the public plaza on Thursday.
Though each mobile use is entitled to one-hour free connection, residents said it is enough to cover their standby time as many of them are waiting for their children’s class in the nearby Kidapawan Pilot Elementary School .
For Erlinda Tugip, whose two toddlers are enrolled in a nearby private school said “It is very advantageous to us because we are connected to the internet while waiting for my children to go out from their classes and it’s free.”
Mayor Jose Paolo Evangelista said the the project is aimed at proving free access to the residents especially those who who need esential information in their transaction with the city government.
The place is just in from of the Kidapawan City Hall building and other governmetn offices.
“This will also serve as a relief to an individual who has limited resources to gain information and trends depending on their interest”, he said.
The free internet service has four Wi-Fi routers located in strategic corners of the city plaza. Each router can serve 800 simultaneous connections at a time.
“Each smartphone device has limited access of one hour in a day to cater to the large volume of users who are expected to flock during the free time”, the mayor said, adding that the internet service can be accessed 24 hours daily.
Evangelista said he has assigned “watchers” to remind the public of the continuous implementation of minimum health protocols in the vicinity.
The mayor said the local government is also looking at extending the free internet service to some public schools in the city.-Marvin Revilla
