PH Has Least Broadband Access — UN Study

24 September 2012

Ironically, while the Philippines ranks as the loudest and most social country in the Internet, it scratches the bottom of the barrel in terms of broadband penetration, with only 2 out of 100 Filipinos having access, according to the most recent United Nations findings.

The country registered the world’s highest social network penetration rate of 75 percent, alongside Indonesia, versus the global average of 55 percent, outdoing all developed countries in the world, according to the Global Web Index.

However, the Philippines was ranked number 101, below countries such as Egypt, Iran, Guyana, Fiji, Algeria and Mongolia in terms of fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, in the report of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development (BCDC).

This Sunday (Sept. 23, 2012),  the commission, which was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), issued the report, the first global country-by-country snapshot of the state of broadband deployment.

So far, Singapore ranked as the highest among Southeast Asian countries in terms of broadband penetration, with 25.5 percent, or about 26 out of every 100 Singaporean having access to the internet.

By the end of 2011, around a third of the world’s population came online, with 2.26 billion people using the Internet.

Researchers predict that global Internet users will reach 3 billion in 2016, significantly boosting the proportion to around 40%.

In the developing world, Internet penetration stood at 24% in 2011 and at just under 6% in the world’s Least Developed Countries.

Still, individual internet use lags behind household internet access and analysts maintain that only mobile broadband can boost it. The question is whether mobile broadband will deliver the extra growth in access needed.

The commission’s report also showed an online linguistic shift from English to Chinese.

In terms of users, English and Chinese dominate the Internet, accounting for 27% and 24% of total global Internet users respectively, with Spanish a distant third  at 8% of Internet users.

However, if current growth rates continue, the total number of Internet users accessing the Internet in Chinese may overtake the number of Internet users predominantly using English in 2015.

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