In the past few days, the first Smart Island Summit was held at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, an event that served as a stage to announce the projects led by the administration of Governor Pierluisi to reduce the digital divide on the island.

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The budget available for projects under the Smart Island program totals about $800 million that seek to increase the accessibility of citizens to high-speed Internet, while improving connectivity and the resilience of telecommunications on the island.

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“The Smart Island Summit was an event that brought together more than 300 people, including municipalities, non-profit entities and the telecommunications industry, which allowed us to present the comprehensive and ambitious agenda of projects to reduce the digital divide in Puerto Rico. At the same time, the governor announced three core projects that seek to increase the island's connectivity based on high-speed internet,” said the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Innovation, Information, Data and Technology, Enrique Völckers-Nin.

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The first announcement was the investment of $50 million for the Public WiFi Program (Puerto Rico WiFi Public Access). “The first phase of this project will be the creation of 190 public WiFi spaces in 46 municipalities on the island. The identification of the localities was worked together with the municipalities and these range from libraries, public buildings for citizen service, spas, public squares, community centers, parks, linear promenades, boat terminals, viewpoints, market squares, among others,” said Völckers-Nin.

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According to the official, this project advances high-speed Internet service in places where optical fiber is still being installed, so that citizens can count on this service more quickly.

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It was reported that the project will be worked on through a Request for Proposals (RFP) published at www.smartisland.pr.gov and all Internet providers in Puerto Rico will be able to take part in this process. On the same portal, you will find a georeferenced map with all the locations selected for the first phase.

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On the other hand, the allocation of $30 million was announced for Internet Resilience and Hardening, a program that will allocate funds to Internet providers on the island to improve their infrastructure, so that it is more resilient to adverse situations. With these funds, suppliers will be able to purchase equipment such as electric generators, solar panels and batteries so that in the event of an emergency, the service will continue to be offered.

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In addition, in the coming months, a design project will begin, with an estimated investment of $200 million in federal and local funds to bury the optical fiber.