SAIPAN – The Broadband Policy and Development Office plans to install Safe Space pods, private workstation booths designed for sensitive online activity, at three community anchor institutions on Saipan, Special Assistant Glen Hunter said Tuesday on Good Morning Marianas.
The pods will be installed at the public library, NMTech and Northern Marianas College. Hunter described the units as cubicle-style enclosures, similar in concept to a phone booth, where residents who lack privacy at home can handle health appointments, video conferencing, government filings and other sensitive online matters.
“If you don’t have a safe space at home to use the internet for health or private matters online, you can go to these community anchor institutions and use these little, almost like a phone booth, to set up shop and do your video conferencing or whatever else you need to do,” Hunter said.
The office completed the procurement process and selected a vendor for the installation, Hunter said. Super Typhoon Sinlaku slowed the timeline for securing the pods and completing installation, but the project remains active.
Hunter said the library already has Safe Space pods installed through a separate grant of its own, and the Broadband Policy and Development Office installation will add capacity at that site. The NMTech and Northern Marianas College locations will be new installations.
The pods are part of the Broadband Policy and Development Office’s broader digital inclusion portfolio, which also includes the $81 million Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment fiber-to-the-home sub-grant and the veterans and Manåmko laptop voucher program in partnership with the CNMI Veterans Affairs Office.