Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 24) – The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) has test deployed satellite technology that could help banks provide accessible financial services to remote areas.
PhilSA, together with the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), started the test deployment of satellite internet services at the Progressive Bank of Malvar and Rural Bank of Cuenca in Batangas.
“For financial inclusion to be effective, it would need reliable and strong internet connectivity and this is where satellite internet comes in,” PhilSA Project Development officer Victoria Basto told CNN Philippines on Wednesday.
The BSP defines financial inclusion as a state where all Filipinos have effective access to a wide range of financial services.
“The current internet set up in the country is made of fiber optic lines and availability of towers. But if we’re talking about geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, or rural areas, it might not be economical to put up a tower,” he added.
Basto said the rural banks in Malvar and Cuenca were chosen for the test deployment as these were earlier tagged by the Department of Information and Communications Technology as geographically isolated.
PhilSA has yet to acquire results from the test deployment and will still compare data on internet speed for downloads and uploads.
