Whenever I travel out of Bacolod, Negros Occidental, I always make sure I am at the airport way too early because the airport is a bit far from my place. I’d spend my waiting time eating, observing passengers, or looking at the view surrounding Silay. At times, I’d look at my phone or type something on my laptop. Worse, flights get delayed and there’s even a lot more time to kill. In addition, this idle time seems to stretch much longer because I could not connect to the internet.
Now, this will no longer be the scenario the next time I catch a flight because the Bacolod-Silay International Airport is Wifi-ready. Thanks to PLDT and #SmartWifi I can now check information on the net and message friends online while waiting for my flight. Plus, with a bandwidth of up to 1 gigabit per second, we can have the best customer experience whether surfing the web for our favorite sites, or keeping connected with home and office while traveling.
I tend to agree with Transportation Undersecretary Roberto Lim on what he said during the rollout in Davao City’s airport, “A tourist’s impression of a country will be largely based on the first and last experience of his destination. Smart Wifi contributes to improving this experience and to the success of having them come over and visit again.”
It is important that such experience extends to the Bacolod-Silay airport, which is the primary gateway to Negros Island, and is one of two active airports serving Negros Island, the other being Dumaguete Airport in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. It accounts for about a fifth of the air passenger traffic in Western Visayas.
The good news is that the government has earmarked over P20 billion for the upgrade of the airport under the private-public partnership (PPP) scheme. The project covers the expansion of the passenger terminal building, which will boost its capacity to about 3.1 million passengers annually.
“In this digital age, data connectivity is important especially when one is on the go. With Smart Wifi, travelers will get to enjoy a seamless digital experience for more productive and meaningful journeys,” said Eric R. Alberto, EVP for PLDT/Smart, and president and CEO, ePLDT.
The Bacolod, Iloilo, Laguindingan and Davao airports are among the 21 key transport hubs identified by the DOTr for installation of Smart Wifi to bring the internet into the hands of more Filipinos all over the country. The roll out includes all four passenger terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as well as airports in Dumaguete, Kalibo, General Santos, Clark, Laoag, Cebu, Caticlan, and Zamboanga. Also in the list are key seaports in Southern Luzon as well as MRT 3, and LRT lines 1 and 2 for Metro Manila.
Traveling around the country will never be the same again. Expect more live posts and updates while I’m on the go.
17 Responses
It’s so nice that airports in the Philippines are now with free Wi-Fi! Waiting isn’t such a bother anymore 😀
That’s good. This present days, having no internet is soo boring. My only concern is the security of using a public wifi. Hacking you know…
Such a high speed public wifi!!!!!! Whoa!!! I really hope it comes up in India too, soon!!!
Now this is awesome and definitely a good news for all passengers. I can’t wait to have my next trip and experience the internet connection offered by PLDT and Smart!
Good data connectivity and a Wi-Fi is all you need when travelling.
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I love that they are doing their best to improve their service. It’s important for airports to have a decent wifi connection since people often need to be connected to the internet especially if it’s for business trip! Good to know that this airport has excellent speed!
Good to know that more and more places now a days have wi-fi. Wi-fi has almost become a necessity now.
This is a very handy and popular gadget nowadays. Many airports are promoting this too… Changi airport, malaysia airport and many other south east asian airport have it!
This is really a is big step in getting the most of the smartphones. They would surely appreciate the project up close.
I always love it when airports offer free wifi for travellers, but sometimes they lack the speed and it gets frustrating! Nice to know Bacolod-Silay Airport is offering a bandwidth of up to 1 gigabit per second – it gives a good user experience and for travellers to stay connected while on the go.
I’m glad that we can be proud of the speed at Bacolod Silay Airport. Fast and reliable Wi-Fi connection must be made available also at NAIA.
I hope this comes up in Nigeria
I agree that Wifi is important. The country should also invest in installing Internet connection in all parts of the Philippines XD
This is something new to me.. It looks pretty cool and nice
This is great to know. As a blogger, internet is a must-have. My father is from Bacolod and my mother`s from Ilo-Ilo so I might visit these places again.
With all the waiting we do at airports, we should really be connected on the net so that we do not waste time. Good that provincial airports are doing the same.
Its very important that even local airports have internet access and free for all. Its impt for us travelers to keep updated pur loved ones