More MRT commuters linking to free Wi-Fi

MANILA, Philippines - With 230,000 commuters now benefiting from free Wi-Fi in 13 Metro Rail Transit Line 3 stations, President Duterte’s promise on improved internet access for Filipinos has now become a reality.

To closely monitor developments in the EDSA Free Wi-Fi Project in MRT-3, which was launched last June 12, SMART, A&A—the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)’s service provider – and the Department of Transportation MRT-3 stations recently reported to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that approximately 230,000 of the 444,044 daily MRT-3 commuters access and connect to the EDSA Free Wi-Fi internet during peak hours.

The report indicated that heavy usage of the internet were in the following MRT-3 stations: Taft Avenue, North Avenue, Cubao, Ayala, Shaw Boulevard and Boni Avenue.

The NTC’s National Capital Region Office also conducted internet speed tests via OOKLA on July 6 to 7, which showed average download and upload speeds of 156.6Mbps and 135.8Mbps, respectively.

The highest recorded download speed was 325.48 Mbps in Ortigas station and the highest recorded upload speed was 310.57 Mbps in Magallanes station.

In stations with the most number of commuters, namely Taft Avenue, North Avenue, Cubao, Ayala and Shaw Boulevard, the monitoring report indicated that download speed ranged from 106 Mbps to 208 Mbps, while upload speed hit 82 Mbps to 167 Mbps. 

The EDSA Free Wi-Fi project intends to cover the entire street level of EDSA by October of this year.

Working with the DICT on the EDSA Free Wi-Fi project are the NTC, the DOTr MRT 3, Metro Rail Transit Development Corp., Light Rail Transit Authority, Light Rail Manila Corp., Metro Manila Development Authority, Department of Public Works and Highways, Manila Electric Co., Philippine Reclamation Authority, the local government units of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasay and Quezon City, A&A, PLDT-Smart and Globe.