RP Internet users to reach 30 million

Growth opens more business for telcos

MANILA, Philippines – There will be 30 million Internet users in the Philippines by 2012, driven by lower cost of access and wider availability of devices, according to a report by research group Nielsen.

At the Internet and Mobile Marketing Summit 2009, Eric Barrera, Nielsen Philippines Director for Client Service, said the current number of Internet users in the country is pegged at 24 million of which 81 percent are between 10 and 39 years old.

Citing previous studies, Barrera said the length of time spent by people on the Internet is slowly increasing. In 2008, Filipino Internet users spent an average of 3.8 hours per day, or just about the same length as watching television.

“The length of time spent by the average Filipino online won’t change by 2012 but there will be more people online by then. This opens more opportunities for service providers,” Barrera said.

He added that television will remain a key platform for information among Filipinos primarily because of its accessibility.

With the growth of Internet usage and the number of users, Barrera said there will be more specialized content and services targeting specific users, something that service and content providers could capitalize.

But Barrera noted that their forecasted figure for the size of Internet users is only within the country’s 21 metro cities. Rural areas have yet to be included in the statistics.

He explained that the concentration of most Internet users is in the cities primarily due to the availability of Internet infrastructure. While there are indeed some Internet users in rural areas, the numbers remain small.

He also said that majority of rural Internet users get access from Internet cafes. Still, he stressed that as telecommunications providers continue building networks in the countryside, the number of users in the Philippines could grow further. –Alexander Villafania, INQUIRER.net