ALTHOUGH the Philippines has acquired a 15-percent global-market share in providing cyber services after Canada (27 percent) and India (37 percent), Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III believes the country can be more conducive to Internet-related businesses and services if well-connected in a network.
Based on rough estimates, 20 million of the total 90 million Filipinos are Internet users. However, these figures are not enough to pull up the Philippine rank among countries in Asia-Pacific owing to poor broadband penetration, according to consulting company Frost & Sullivan.
“Wireless broadband is the way to go,” Chua told the Asia CEO Forum at The Tower Club in Makati. “We don’t have other choices. This is the only way telcos can reach far provinces at a faster rate.”
He added, “Infrastructure will be very expensive on their end if they continue their wired offerings.”
Through strong links, Chua is confident the CICT agency can reach more communities to share its projects, specifically in extending services to geographically-challenged locations, improving the education and skills of out-of-school youths and giving online services access to persons with disabilities and elderly.
“Broadband empowers the poor. It helps them communicate at cheaper cost, transfer remittances at lower rates and check the information they need from government agencies,” Chua said.
The three big players in the country reported their Q1 wireless Internet subscribers base as follows: Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.’s SmartBro has 596,000 subscribers; Globe Telecom’s Broadband Tattoo has 96,709 subscribers; and Bayan Telecommunications’ Bayan Wireless Landline (that also connects to the internet) has 26,250 subscribers.
The Internet providers expect the figures to dramatically increase this year as greater market competition in Internet-subscription rates and falling PC prices are fueling wireless broadband-subscription growth.
Other available options for a user to access the web include mobile wireless, high-speed packet access, evolution data optimized and worldwide interoperability for microwave access.
Meanwhile, Chua has expressed high hopes CICT will soon become a department.
Chua said, “Since we’re not a permanent entity, we can be changed anytime; it’s hard to get resources or push projects. If we’re a department, we’ll be more empowered and we’ll have stronger mandate.”
“But we’ll wait for the right time. We understand government priorities at the moment,” Chua said.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/10949-wireless-broadband-services-hold-the-key.html
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