My wife and I recently spent a weekend in Coron, at Busuanga Island in Palawan, and it’s the first time that we went out of town both with internet-capable cellphones (one on Globe and the other on Smart), as well as a Globe Visibilty HSDPA modem. I was pleasantly surprised how fast Globe Visibility connected at our hotel — making the absence of WiFi in the premises a minor issue. This allowed my wife to continue attending to her clients (some of which had emergencies at the time) during our trip.
The availability of mobile-network based internet in such a remote location gives hope for Philippine internet ubiquity: the dismal internet penetration in the country can be solved. And it can be solved in the same way the problem of having mere telephones before was solved.
Back in the analog telephone and PLDT monopoly years, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company dilly-dallied with their line installation services. Having a landline installed, especially in more remote areas, literally took up to 20 years of waiting. Without any credible competition, it appeared that PLDT’s monopoly at the time would uphold the poor quality status quo at that time.
However, starting in the late 80s, analog cellular phones also started appearing in the market, but their costs, both in terms of buying a handheld, as well as per-minute call rates, were prohibitive. These early cellular phones were also big, the smallest being the size of a construction brick and the largest ones requiring its own small briefcase.
And then came digital cellular phones. The new phones, using the European GSM standard, had cheaper, smaller handsets, and swappable SIM cards. Lowering handset prices and cheap, disposable prepaid telephone accounts made acquiring telephones trivial and practically instantaneous. The real clincher in the success of mobile communications is text-messaging, however. At 1 peso per text since 1998, text messaging became the lifeblood of our telecommunications industry.
Along with this extensive mobile communications network is a similarly extensive infrastructure no amount of telephone poles and cabling can beat. In an archipelago like the Philippines, the main challenge is and always will be the difficulty in being able to lay down cables across mountains and under turbulent seas; clearly, wireless communications solve all these problems, with the exception of the occasional NPA cell site bomber. This coupled with the availability of ever cheapening personal computers and netbooks make conditions for mobile internet ubiquity akin to the rise of GSM cellular communications in the late 90s.
Of course, if this does happen, this is not without potential problems of its own. There are only two dominant telecom companies capable of even beginning to imagine setting up a complete Philippine mobile internet network. Surrendering the control of the Philippine information superhighway to Smart (which is now owned by PLDT) and Globe may actually create consequences similar to the PLDT landline monopoly of yesteryears. The circumstances behind the NBN-ZTE scandal only further underscores the sensitivity of this issue.
Clearly, the extent of the internet’s necessity in the daily lives of ordinary Filipinos is increasing, and this is even more true for business owners or those who are otherwise in need of constant, updated information. But whatever path we might take towards true internet ubiquity in the Philippines, whoever will implement it must be held to the highest standards of quality, or it will all be for nought.
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Ubiquity it is, Jon.
We are enslaved by our bilmoko-that-gadget mentality.
And the telco’s prey on us in the extreme as the NTC is good only at pserudo regulation.
Just look at how expensive bandwidth is. Scandalously expensive!
Ding,
This is precisely the concerns that I speak about in my last 2 paragraphs. Relying on the telcos to implement this will give them too much power, too much control — especially in terms of pricing.
Jon,
What of the seeming inutility of the NTC?
Isn’t it supposed to be the vanguard against the abuse?
Or has it been co-opted?
You’ll recall how just recently the ‘bright’ boys thereat thought of licensing bloggers.
Am thinking now this ploy was a precursor to the RORB, bron.
Yes, the present internet capability advances
can be used to inform all Filipinos of the
political situation of our country. Nobody can
be victim of disinformation, misinformation or
propaganda by using this technology.
We can discuss a candidate record, agenda, his
or her stand on the issues. His or her solutions
to our problems, etc…
The next election can be the election of the best
and the brightest of Filipinos. So, calling a few good men or women. We need you.
is the ubiquity of the internet a panacea or a curse? being from the “old school” (i must admit -are you satisfied, cvj?) my opinion may be a little bias, but i think the internet is highly over-rated when it comes to bringing relative ease, simplicity, emotional/spiritual fulfillment, true happiness and meaning to our life. on the contrary, i think it has brought about, or at least helped immensely the enhancement of, unnecessary complexity, dangers, global insecurity, world-wide economic meltdowns and international crime and terrorism, among others.
just like the cell-phone, internet has some advantages and a LOT of disadvantages. anyone who has both knows what i’m talking about.
Atty. Ben,
Is it the ubiquity of technology, any technology that can have impact negatively on our lives or how we choose to use it.
A case in point is the debate on having full automated elections or a more affordable hybrid system.
Technology does not cheat, humans do.
Artificial intelligence is still a long way from supplanting free will.
Tools are just that, tools.
It’s for us to use or misuse it, methinks.
Bencard,
There will always be people who are fearful of technology, and many of the concerns are definitely valid. But as Ding said, it’s really up to the person.
If cro-magnon man did not refine the use of bladed weapons, a lot of wars wouldn’t have been fought, and a lot of men wouldn’t have perished. But it also means that homo sapiens as we know it would be non-existent, probably even extinct.
Free WiFi is the ultimate way of “panloloko”. Chances are if there is “Free” WiFi the signal is 1) so weak, 2) only for local access. They should just sell WiFi access for a reasonable fee.
Internet ubiquity requires a price. But this price should be kept affordable.
Bencard, you may be ‘old school’ but i do count you as part of the internet-savvy crowd.
blackshama,
In Davao, cafes and restaurants are competing with each other using *free as in beer* WiFi.
Anyway by “mobile internet” I’m not talking about WiFi, I’m talking about 3G and HSDPA (or HSPA) networks, which are comparable to DSL.
@Jon
nahirapan ang GF kong gamitin ang visibility nya sa quezon province, but medyo mabilis sa dumaguete…
imagine people talking about the bane and boom of technology while some parts of the country do not have clean water, reliable power and a latrine.
those of us with those amenities plus a keyboard to punch on are like star war characters in the midst of a forest.
how do we democratize the information technology lies the people’s real empowerment.
imagine the government to cut down on school buildings and other realties because we can offer high school and college courses online.
jcc,
Your point being? That these topics are not worth discussing?
jl, not at all… look inside us and feel that we are more fortunate than others… how i wish we can democratize access to information technology to empower our less fortunate brothers.
And that is precisely what I’m hoping for.
I want to see a future wherein information access devices (whether mobile phones or laptop computers or a hybrid of both) cost no more than 3000 pesos a piece.
I want to see a future wherein downloading a gigabyte of information is no more expensive than a single text message.
I hope these can be realized soon.