Wishing for cheaper Internet access

Internet penetration in the Philippines continues to rise, especially in urban areas where free wi-fi (or wireless connectivity) is increasingly being made available and more people are using smartphones.

While the overall Internet user penetration rate is still at the lower 37 percent of the world population, giving the Philippines a rank of 106th in 191 countries by the United Nations Broadband Commission, this is already not far from the world’s average of less than half.

For a country that has become the text capital of the world, getting into the Internet access habit is just a matter of time, or more specifically, having the financial capability to buy a smartphone and to connect to an affordable service provider if there is no free Internet available.

The UN Broadband Commission predicts that over half of the world’s global population will be connected to the Internet within three years, and we will likely see more Filipinos in this list as the cost of new smartphones drop to even more affordable levels.

Cheaper smartphones

Thanks to new brands, notably Chinese- and yes, Philippine-made, smartphones are now becoming accessible to Filipinos who have been for so long clinging on to their old version of text-and-call mobile phones.

More Filipinos are learning that phones can be used for other applications, such as accessing e-mail services, navigation, Facebook and other similar popular social media channels, and even watching free television or listening to radio programs.

While smartphones were expensively priced at P10,000 and upwards a few years ago, one can now buy brands for as low as P1,500, which is about the average price of the old best-selling Nokias (being the most popular mobile phone brand of the old era) that was essential to send a text message to friends and relatives.

High connectivity cost

With almost every Filipino now capable of getting a smartphone, the other side of the Internet issue that continues to be a stumbling block to raising the country’s connectivity level is the cost of being connected to cyberspace.

For many Filipinos, connecting to the Internet is much more expensive than buying a pre-paid card to send a text message or make a phone call. Also, surfing on the Internet or accessing e-mails or using popular social media channels is not high on their need list.

While the UN, specifically the UNESCO, has made a statement emphasizing the importance of Internet connectivity for a country’s population in speeding up economic development, this is not the overarching sentiment of majority of Filipinos whose basic aspiration remains being able to communicate either by calling or texting.

Of course, the high cost of Internet is also a function of lower penetration. Thus, only when Filipinos have the expendable income and time to appreciate Internet’s offerings will there be a higher demand that will compel telcos to compete in pricing, and hopefully, quality of service.

We can only hope that the price war in mobile phone companies’ call and text services, as what happened in the late 2000s which saw rate costs significantly dropping, will also be replicated when more Filipinos start to appreciate the perceived benefits of getting connected to the Internet.

Kill switch

Meanwhile, telcos need to focus on improving their other services such as those that aim to protect their clients. There are new mobile apps that are revolutionizing the many ways of making smartphones more endearing to its users, and one of these is the “kill switch.”

Now used in London and two major cities in the United States, this kill switch app is a software already included in the smartphone that allows the telco to remotely disable a stolen unit and even erase the data that is on the smartphone at the time when reported stolen.

Telcos and phone manufacturer support

While telcos have responded by saying that the availability of the kill switch app in a smartphone is primarily within the jurisdiction of the phone manufacturer, there is scope for telcos to specify the addition of this feature especially if the phone manufacturer is keen to become a major distribution channel of the telecommunications firm.

What is important is that the public sees a concerted effort by manufacturers and service providers to make available such facilities that ultimately makes stealing of smartphones less enticing and more importantly, protects the phone owner from having valuable information on his stolen unit accessible to mischievous use by thieves.

A proper spokesperson of a telco should not reply “telcos are not the primary source of handsets, [unlike] in the U.S. market. Most of the phones, they don’t buy from us – they buy from retailers” but rather “we will explore this option together with manufacturers bearing in mind the further safety of our customers.”

Amazing apps

In the widening world of Internet, application developers are having a heyday coming up with new offerings that provide new uses of smartphones.

Those that have become big hits are undoubtedly free software programs which add value, such as Viber and its less popular versions in the Philippines that allow users to text and call without paying a single centavo as long as you’re connected to the Internet.

There are also other free useful apps like those giving traffic updates or navigation directions. Of course, you need again to access the Internet to be able to use these, either by paying for the consumed hours or smooching on free wi-fi.

Lately, some less established smartphone brands have been offering connectivity to free television for those who buy their units, much like the free radio access of the old mobile phones before smartphones became popular. And you don’t need to be connected to the Internet.

This has been gaining a lot of patronage from the ordinary working masses who have discovered a quick way to catch up on their favorite television programs while on lunch break. For smartphone manufacturers as well as television companies, this could well represent new and immensely huge income opportunities.

Perhaps a new app to immobilize a lost smartphone and delete all content remotely is already in the works that will not need the services of a manufacturer or the telco. Let’s pray that our young app developers are already looking into this.

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