HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s administration is looking to provide islandwide free public Wi-Fi with the millions of dollars the federal government is investing into broadband infrastructure.
This month, Adelup unveiled its five-year action plan to build out better, faster, cheaper internet infrastructure using the $156 million Guam is getting through Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment funding.
Providing free basic Wi-Fi to all residents is one of the most important components of that plan, said Tyrone Taitano, coordinator for Adelup’s Office of Infrastructure Policy and Development. With more and more of the modern world moving online, decent internet access is becoming more of a necessity, he said, one which many people are cut off from.
“All too often, the story we get about how people access the digital world is that they are all tethered to the same phone at home, or they go to the mall and they take advantage of free Wi-Fi there, and that’s how they catch up in their WhatsApp and their Gmail is there,” Taitano told the Post following a presentation at the Westin Resort Guam on Sept. 8.
“That’s the true digital divide. It’s economic, it’s not technology. We know how to do it here. It’s not geographic. It’s not people living on the side of Mount Lamlam. It’s economic, the internet rates are too high.”
There’s already a model for such a program in place, with public institutions such as libraries offering free Wi-Fi, Taitano said, “we just extend it islandwide.”
The service would provide basic internet access only, he said, allowing local telecom providers to continue to compete on higher-end, faster internet services.
Free universal Wi-Fi
Free universal Wi-Fi has been a concept that local politicians have been entertaining for several years now. Post files show that legislation that would have pushed for the government to seek a public-private partnership for such a service was floated back in 2018.
But now, more robust support from the federal government for broadband internet infrastructure is making that dream an achievable reality, according to Taitano. Even before this latest, greatest pot of federal money for broadband was provided, the island was awarded $41 million in federal grants for broadband development. Though the current sum of $156 million is a once-in-a-lifetime payout, it’s not likely to be the last coming down from Washington, D.C., he said.
“My belief is, it’s going to be like highway funding. Once they start it, they can’t turn it off,” Taitano said.
Talks about additional infrastructure funding as part of the military buildup will also help carry the free Wi-Fi program further into the future, he added.
Other than free Wi-Fi, the administration’s Internet For All initiative also will seek to build more robust “middle mile architecture,” publicly owned networks that bridge private telecom companies to customers who need internet, and a data center that can help remove internet speed issues caused by Guam’s huge distance from the mainland U.S.
All those elements will play together, Taitano said, using the example of Typhoon Mawar. Residents were left in an information blackout as local internet service providers moved to repair their infrastructure.
“Wouldn’t (it) have been nice to have some basic Wi-Fi, at least for every resident?” he said.
The government of Guam already is looking for proposals from companies to build out the infrastructure for those services, Taitano said, and the construction of it is expected to go out to bid by late next year.
Taitano said the project poses more than just a basic quality-of-life improvement, adding he believes it’s an opportunity for the island to lay the basic building blocks it will need to operate in the future.
“This is about people’s ability to participate in all aspects of our democracy, our society and our economy. And you can tell right now, that’s where the future is, particularly with new technologies like artificial intelligence. That’s the future. And a lot of what we’re working on here is making investments that will matter for the future, particularly for working families,” Taitano said.
Tyrone Taitano
