Internet in the Philippines
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Internet in the Philippines has been undergoing development since it was made available in 1994. As of 2010, 29,750,000 people use the internet in the country accounting for 29.7% of the total population. The top-level domain of the country is .ph
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[edit] History
The Internet first made its connection to the Philippines on March 1994. On that date the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) connected the country & its people to Sprint in the United States via a 64 kbit/s link.
A year after the connection, The Public Telecommunications Act of the Philippines was made into law. Securing a Franchise is now optional for value-added service providers. This law enabled many other organizations to establish connections to the Internet, such as to create Web sites and having their own Internet services or providing Internet service and access to other groups and individuals. These developments are very significant for the country's internet sector.
However the growth of the internet in the Philippines was hindered by many obstacles including unequal distribution of the internet infrastructure throughout the country, its cost and corruption in the government.[citation needed] But these obstacles did not altogether halt all the developments. More connection types were made available to more Filipinos. Increasing bandwidth and a growing number of Filipino internet users as years passed were proof of the continuing development of the internet in the country.
[edit] Availability
In the Philippines, broadband Internet is usually available to consumers through 2 methods: cable and DSL. Cable Internet is offered through companies such as ZPDee Cable, Global Destiny Cable and Parasat "Cable21", Caceres "C3", Skyline "Cheetah", USATV1, Viacomm, Aeronet, KwikNET (Los Baños, Laguna) usually starting at 64 kbit/s. ComClark (Pampanga) usually starting at 384 kbit/s. PLDT, BayanTel, Globe Telecom and Eastern Telecom (ETPI) offer DSL starting at 128 kbit/s up to 5 Mbit/s. Broadband Internet is also widely available at public Internet cafes and offices, especially in major cities. Wireless (WiFi) broadband Internet is progressively being rolled out in coffee shops, malls and major airports around the country.
In 2005, Smart Communications launched "Smart Wi-Fi", which, contrary to its name, does not make use of WiFi but wireless Internet connection via its cellular infrastructure. The service offers wireless fixed broadband through the use of Motorola's Canopy equipment. The service was later rebranded as "Smart BRO" on April 2006.
Providers:
- Solid Broadband Corporation, is the first to offer residential broadband through its Cable Internet. They also offer sDSL services of up to 1.5 Mbit/s on hi-rise buildings. [1]
- Bayan Telecommunications, through BayanDSL (formerly SkyDSL), offers ADSL from 768 kbit/s to 2.5 Mbit/s. [2] They also offer cable Internet from 64 kbit/s to 1 Mbit/s through ZPDee. [3] Sky Broadband cable also offers speeds up to 112 Mbit/s. [4]
- ETPI offers SDSL from 256 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s. [5]
- Globe Telecom, through its subsidiary Innove offers ADSL from 512 kbit/s to 4 Mbit/s. [6]
- PLDT offers ADSL from 384 kbit/s to 5 Mbit/s. [7]
- PT&T offers ADSL and SDSL from 384 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s. [8]
- Smart Communications offers wireless fixed broadband at 384 kbit/s 512 kbit/s and 4 Mbit/s for corporate lines. In 2008, it has become available in prepaid through the use of a USB modem where users can purchase load/credit at different handphone loading centres.
- ComClark Network and Technology Corp offers Cable Internet known as Surestream, Wireless (WiFi) known as Wireless Anywhere Metro, Wireless fixed broadband known as Extreme Wireless, Instanet Prepaid Cards Pampanga Only and Fiber Optics [9]
- Mozcom Communications offers a variety of dial-up services such as Nitro cards.
- USATV1 Inc. Has a 1Mbit/s service for only 900 pesos a month.
- Sun Cellular offers 3.5G-enabled wireless Internet up to 2 Mbit/s. This also uses USB modem and can be used nationwide.
- Wi-Tribe offers Wi-Max Internet up to 2Mbit/s for 995/month(now, 998/month), & 4Mbit/s for 1998/month.
