Government broadband is widely seen as an important key to improving operational efficiency and driving automation and self-service into public services—thus improving the lives of citizens. With an eye to doing just that, the Philippines is plotting a fiber-optic network that will wire up some 160 government agencies.

Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary and Information and Communications Technology Office executive director Louis Napoleon Casambre told Filipino news portal GMA that the network, located in Metro Manila, will be operational in a few weeks.

The move follows a smaller project that links 22 government offices in Cebu.

"Government operations can expect a significant improvement in their operations and the delivery of their services with the use of fiber optic technology and systems currently being developed under the Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) project of the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICT Office) and the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) of the DOST," the DOST said.

iGovPhil is an initiative that will eventually support the implementation of cloud services, including Web hosting, document and records management, email, an online payment system, security and project management systems, across the government footprint.

The government broadband phenomenon is rolling out in the U.S. as well, with Los Angeles putting out a request for information (RFI (News - Alert)) to vendors for a 1Gbps network that will connect up the public sector offices in town, along with offering capacity to businesses and residences. LA is looking for private-sector companies to pitch in, however.

Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable (TWC) is one private sector company participating in the process.

"Over the last four years, Time Warner Cable has invested more than $1.5 billion to enhance our infrastructure and services in Los Angeles," said Peter Stern, executive vice president and chief strategy, people and corporate development officer at TWC. “This significant investment coupled with new 'Gigasphere' technology positions us to be able to introduce gigabit-per-second speeds in 2016.”

TWC will use the latest technical standard in development at CableLabs (News - Alert), DOCSIS 3.1, and is expected to be ready for initial pilots in 2015.