Cisco to invest at least $1M in Philippines for connectivity, cybersecurity

Global technology firm Cisco is set to invest at least $1 million in the Philippines, to invest in initiatives to improve the country's connectivity and cybersecurity, among others.

According to Cisco Philippines managing director Karrie Ilagan, the country has been approved to be included in the company's worldwide program to invest in connectivity initiatives across the globe.

"We just got an approval to include the Philippines in that global program that we have in Cisco. I think we're only the 25th country in the world where we're making this investment," she told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference in Taguig City.

Among the initiatives to be invested in is the national broadband plan (NBP), the blueprint in building infostructures that seek to accelerate the deployment of fiber optic cable and wireless technologies to improve the overall internet speed and affordability in the Philippines.

"We're looking at how we can help the country decide on how we can really move forward with the national broadband," Ilagan said.

"We will be working definitely with the Department of ICT. They're the logical government agency to partner with, but it's not necessarily limited with DICT," she elaborated.

Aside from this, Ilagan said Cisco is also looking at providing support to cybersecurity in the Philippines.

"One of the areas we're really looking at is how we can strengthen cybersecurity in the country, so that's infra," she said.

According to data from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, the Philippines was the fourth country in the world with the highest web threat detections in 2019.

With the investment, Ilagan said initiatives will be able to leapfrog from the current status, providing long-lasting results for the country.

"Where we are today and from a technology standpoint, it's just about right so we can really leapfrog kasi we don't really have to go and start building and take those baby steps," she said.

"With the current technology, as long as the baseline infra is there, then you can go, you can build on top of that," elaborated Ilagan. — BM, GMA News