NATIONAL FIBER BACKBONE EXPLAINED: Is It Safe? What Towers, Equipment and Fiber Will Come to Northern Iloilo?
NATIONAL FIBER BACKBONE EXPLAINED: Is It Safe? What Towers, Equipment and Fiber Will Come to Northern Iloilo?
By Mark Morales | August 28, 2026 | Estancia, Iloilo
After our article on 124MW data centers and the 1,620-hectare Pax Silica hub, many readers in Estancia, Balasan, and Carles asked the same question: What is this National Fiber Backbone (NFB) that DICT says will reach Western Visayas by end of 2026? Is it safe? Will there be new towers?
We checked DICT, NGCP, World Bank, and Presidential Communications Office records. Here is the complete explainer.
1. WHAT IS NATIONAL FIBER BACKBONE?
The National Fiber Backbone is the main component of the government's National Broadband Program (NBP). It is government-owned, neutral fiber — meaning it is not Globe, not PLDT, not Converge.
DICT defines it as: a demand-responsive, neutral fiber backbone, which makes internet readily available for government entities and other DICT last-mile projects such as the Free Public Internet Access Program. It is a flagship initiative aimed at establishing a secure and robust nationwide fiber optic network that will serve as the backbone of the country's digital infrastructure.
For decades, the Philippines was one of the few countries without a government-owned backbone, leaving the state reliant on private telcos for its own data needs.
2. THE INFRASTRUCTURE: TOWERS, FIBER, SHELTERS
NFB does not build new high-voltage lines in Panay. It uses what NGCP already operates.
a) The towers:
NGCP's transmission network consists of 500 kV, 350 kV HVDC, 230 kV, 138 kV, 115 kV and 69 kV high voltage lines. Those are the large steel towers you see along the Sara-Estancia road.
NGCP is upgrading them for typhoon resilience. Original design was to resist wind gusts of 270 kph for 3 seconds. New standard is 300 kph wind speed design, already adopted in Bicol and now Visayas. NGCP also creates a transmission backbone loop to boost redundancy and has disaster response action plans.
b) The fiber:
At the very top of those towers is a wire called OPGW (Optical Ground Wire). Inside it are glass strands. NFB's work is to activate two dark fibers at 37 NGCP substations and construct 37 DICT equipment shelters in proximity to the NGCP substations. It also requires 32 km of underground Fiber Optic Cable (FOC).
For Visayas-Mindanao, the plan is to activate unused fibers of NGCP and install active equipment along existing submarine cables in the Visayas to extend the backbone into Mindanao.
World Bank documents add: Project will install underground fiber optic cables, which promise to make the network more resilient against disruptions from climate and extreme weather. Middle-mile extension will cover Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Soccksargen, and Caraga.
c) The equipment:
At each NGCP substation, DICT builds a small Telecommunication Equipment Shelter with Alternator — a container-sized, air-conditioned room with batteries and generator, inside NGCP's fenced yard. Not in rice fields.
Active equipment includes 100GE and 40GE Optical Transport Network (OTN) — carrier-grade capacity. Phase 1 alone laid 1,245 km from Laoag to Quezon City, linking 14 provinces, Metro Manila, four BCDA ecozones, and two national government data centers, connecting 346 government agencies and benefiting over 10 million Filipinos.
Phases 2 and 3 add 1,781 km across Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Davao. Total national plan is 28,000 km of government-owned fiber.
Status as of mid-2026: First three phases from Batanes to Tacloban are operational, and Phases 2 and 3 are targeted for completion by year-end, with Western Visayas by end of 2026.
3. IS IT SAFE?
Electrical safety: Fiber is glass, it carries light, not electricity. It is non-conductive and sits inside the ground wire at the top of the tower, which is for lightning protection. Field techs can work on it while the 230kV line is energized. There is no radiation from fiber.
Structural safety: No additional load on tower. OPGW is already there. DICT contractors must follow rule: Service Provider must install equipment in accordance to engineering standards and follow safety protocols by DICT and beneficiary site. Communication boxes and access points must be mounted at least six (6) feet or higher and mounted in a secured location.
Physical safety: The real risk is theft, not electricity.
Towers are protected by RA 7832 Anti-Pilferage Act of 1994 which forbids and penalizes stealing, selling, and buying of any line parts of transmission towers. Still, NGCP recorded theft incidents in Magdugo-Talavera 230kV Line, Magdugo Bus-In Line and Cebu-Magdugo 230kV Line which resulted in disappearance of essential tower parts from 12 transmission towers, including column collectors.
NGCP and Philippine Coast Guard signed MOA to secure submarine cables, including fiber optic network, critical in power transmission and communication, with PCG as first responder to any emergencies involving NGCP's maritime assets.
Telcos formed PROTECTA Pilipinas alliance to develop mechanisms for reporting suspicious activities and advocate for legal measures to protect telecom infrastructure from vandalism and theft. PLDT is collaborating with barangays and National Telecommunications Security Council to deter cable theft and vandalism.
Stiffer penalties are sought: cable theft is currently penalized 2 to 5 years and P50k-P100k under RA 10515 Anti-Cable Tapping Act, but telcos want it classified as serious crime.
Cyber safety: DICT said free Wi-Fi program is actually secured and we're trying to make it more secure with Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project, but risks will not totally disappear, but we have to put proper controls in. The NFB will also transition to more secure technologies in the future.
4. WHAT IT CAN DO FOR NORTHERN ILOILO
For LGUs and communities:
Phases 2-3 will empower 600 national and local government offices connected to GovNet, as well as provide fast, reliable, and affordable internet access to 17 million Filipinos.
DICT says 1.4 million Filipinos and over 1,000 additional government offices will have faster and more reliable internet once Phases 2 and 3 are completed.
Expansion will increase digital capacity, enabling more local governments, schools, health centers, and communities to connect and thrive.
In Cordillera where NFB is complete, DICT connected every province and town, enabling LGUs to streamline public services and save residents from long, exhausting trips.
For Estancia, that means business permit, civil registry, and RHU referrals can be done in municipal hall without traveling to Iloilo City.
For ordinary people:
Today: more than 9,500 active free Wi-Fi access points in 5,057 public places.
Target by 2028: 130,000 Free Wi-Fi sites, connecting all public schools, barangays and health centers, linking 7,063 geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, creating 8 million digital jobs, with broadband cost cut 40% to 80%, standard 22.65 Mbps mobile and 210.64 Mbps fixed.
Education: Nearly 47,000 schools under DepEd, with Digital Bayanihan Project. In Bay-ang National High School in Ajuy, Iloilo, changes are already visible — Ajuy is just 15km from Estancia.
For businesses:
"This can support everyday activities such as online selling, digital payments and customer communications, giving local businesses and entrepreneurs more ways to connect with their markets" — Globe statement for Pavia, Iloilo, same fiber corridor.
For fish port traders, cold storage operators, and resorts in Concepcion, stable fiber means online inventory and GCash settlement without relying on mobile data.
5. BOTTOM LINE FOR ESTANCIA
NFB does not bring new towers to your barangay. It brings a small secured shelter at the NGCP substation and uses light inside existing wires. It is safer than the thin fiber on wooden electric poles that gets cut by trucks, because it rides on 300-kph-rated steel towers and underground ducts.
The effect: your barangay hall, high school, and RHU get cheap, government-rate internet first. Once those anchor sites are online, private ISPs find it cheaper to extend fiber to homes — that's why 5G appeared in Estancia before home fiber.
If you see a DICT or NGCP crew near the substation, remember DICT's own reminder from Mindanao rollout: "Watch over the fiber lines. Do not allow them to be damaged or stolen."