MANILA, Nov. 19 -- The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will distribute more than 41,000 SIM cards to schools and students in remote areas of the Bicol Region.

DICT Assistant Secretary for Regional Development and officer-in-charge, Regional Director June Vincent Manuel Gaudan said Wednesday the SIM cards, part of the Bayanihan SIM initiative, would be distributed in areas with little to no internet connectivity.

"We will purchase and distribute the SIM cards, which we will provide 25 gigabytes (GB) of data every month for an entire year. A total of 41,700 SIM cards will be provided free of charge to students at 15 different locations in the region," he said in a media "Kapihan" event.

Gaudan said the purc...