Key ICT Information

• The telecommunications industry was deregulated in 1987 after over 70 years under a private monopoly.
• By 2001, teledensity stood at 10.91 per 100 people. This represented a 900 percent jump from 1993.
• In 1993, the government implemented the Service Area Scheme, which required the installation within three years of 300,000 land lines by new international gateway facility operators, 400,000 land lines by new cellular licences and 700,000 land lines by firms with both cellular and gateway licences.
• There are 6,634,934 land lines installed nationwide by 2002. However, only around three million of these lines are actually subscribed, due in part to high upfront costs and the growing preference for cellular mobile phones.
• The number of cellular mobile users has soared dramatically, from 959,024 in 1996 to over six million in 2000. Currently, the estimated 12 million Filipinos with cellular phones send an average of 130-150 million text messages a day using short messaging service (SMS).
• The Philippines' 240 text messages per subscriber per month is significantly higher than Hong Kong's 4 text messages.

PC penetration and Internet access

• PC penetration is estimated at 1.9 for every 100 persons.
• Internet penetration is at 6 for every 100 persons (or 4.5 million of the total 76.5 million Filipinos).
• Of these Internet users, 3.1 million (about 70 percent) are said to access the Internet using prepaid cards at Internet cafés.
• Two recent ACNielsen reports give a deeper insight on Philippine Internet users (3) Its "Activate" survey show that the majority of Filipinos between 13 and 30 years old access the Internet daily for at least an hour after work or school (and usually before bedtime).
• The other survey, NETScan, reveals that as of the second quarter of 2002 an estimated 6 percent of the total urban population is using the Internet, almost half of whom are based in Metro Manila (or 11 percent or 900,000 of the population in Metro Manila). Over half of those with Internet access belong to the upper and middle economic classes, although there is substantial representation from "Class D". This means that the upper and middle economic classes account for almost two out of three users.
• There are an estimated 191 ISPs nationwide, mostly operating in urban areas, with 20 percent in areas with export processing zone. There are only about five Tier 1 ISPs. There are also three Internet exchanges, which are all located in Metro Manila.
• The subscriber base to date of these ISPs is approximately 1,850,000.
• It has been noted that "Internet-wise, the Philippines is part of the US Internet at the end of a very long string across the ocean". This observation is based on the fact that "foreign (mostly US) traffic makes up 90 percent of the consumers' consumption" and that "connectivity to other Asia-Pacific countries is a small fraction compared to the US connection."
  

Bandwidth and costs

• Dial-up connection (maximum 56 Kbps) is still the most common mode of accessing the Internet, although the Philippines has both fixed and wireless broadband capabilities (via cable, DSL and satellite).

The costs of dialup

• Internet access is between US$0.30 and US$0.40 per hour. A 2001 survey of Philippine Internet users showed that 63 percent of respondents still accessed the Internet via a dial-up connection.
• They spent an average US$15.50 per month for Internet access. This is around 2-3 percent of the monthly wage of the average Internet user.
• Cable and DSL connections for home use cost US$50 per month on the average. Service, however, is limited to mostly urban areas.
• The ICT industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the Philippines, with foreign currency earnings exceeding those of any other industry.
• It is also ranked second to India as the largest producer of computer services in Asia. A number of global companies are outsourcing their ICT and ICT-enabled business processes to the Philippines.
• In the Global New e- Economy Index released in 2001 by the Meta Group, the Filipino workforce is ranked fourth worldwide in terms of ICT competencies.

Content

• As has been noted, 90 percent of Internet traffic in the Philippines goes to the USA.
• At present, there are 7 nationwide television networks and more than 200 regional television stations.
• There are 5 nationwide radio broadcasting networks and more than 350 regional radio stations.
• The 2000 Philippine Media Fact Book reports that there are 475 newspapers and 45 magazines.

Education

• Aklatan.net is a portal to Philippine libraries and the material they hold.

Government

• A survey conducted by the National Computer Center reports that, out of 399 national government agencies, 325 or 81 percent have set up their own websites. The remaining 74 agencies or 19 percent have not.

Agriculture and rural development

• Local content about agriculture is limited and is slow to rise because only a small fraction of the agricultural sector has access to the Internet.
• Content in agriculture is provided by the government's Department of Agriculture <http://www.da.gov.ph>.
• Digital Philippines assessed 100 national government websites from a list of 134 national-level departments and their attached agencies provided by the government portal using specific indicators based on the UN-ASPA categories of e-government.
• According to a recent survey, the top five products and services that Filipinos buy online are books (54 percent), computer software (33 percent), domain names (31 percent), web hosting (25 percent) and computer hardware (24 percent).
• The top five sites Filipinos shop at are Amazon.com (54 percent), eBay (11 percent), myAyala, Network Solutions (8 percent) each, Barnes and Noble (6 percent) and Register.com (6 percent). It is important to note that only one of these sites is local (MyAyala).
• The same survey reports that Filipino online shoppers spend an average US$522.
• Software exports have steadily increased in the Philippines rising from US$338 million in 1998 to US$657 million in the third quarter of 2000.
• It is estimated that at least 50,000 IT professionals are employed by the software subsector alone.
• There are about 86 local universities and colleges offering degrees in computer science and related programmes (i.e. engineering, mathematics, etc.) and close to 400 vocational-technical schools offering short courses on computing in the country.
• These schools produce about 350,000 students yearly. About 70,000 complete courses in computer engineering and another 100,000 in computer science.
• In 1994, the National Information Technology Council (NITC) was created and designated as the central policy body on IT matters in the country. Four years later in 1998, the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council (ECPC) was created to be the coordinating body of public-private partnerships for the promotion and development of e-commerce. In July 2000, NITC and the ECPC were merged, coinciding with the approval of GISP. The merger resulted in the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council (ITECC <http://www.itecc.gov.ph>).
• The E-Commerce Act of 2000 specifies the conditions that must be complied with in order for an electronic signature to be recognised
• The Philippine Constitution confers on the state the responsibility "to provide the policy environment for the development of Filipino capability and the emergence of communication structures suitable to the needs and aspirations of the nation and the balanced flow of information into, out of, and across the country, in accordance with a policy that respects the freedom of speech and of the press".
• Foreign ownership and participation of telecommunications entities (as public utilities) is limited to 40 percent.
  

Initiatives

Philippine Sustainable Development Network (PSDN) <http://www.psdn.org.ph>

This is composed of organisations committed to sustainable development. It provides its members easy access to information by acting as an IT system integrator with services ranging from system. Today, the organisation struggles to operate on the US$100 annual contribution from the 30 members of the foundation it established and US$13 monthly payment from each of its 100 e-mail and Internet access customers, most of who are NGOs with limited budgets. PSDN hosts the websites of 30 NGOs, government agencies and international organizations. It wants to progress from countries. The community has also branched out into specifically interest clubs that are operated by PExers.

Source: Digital Review for Asia Pacific
References: Filipino Online Shopper Report