SME broadband penetration in RP only at 4 percent
By David Dizon, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/10/2008 4:35 PM
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Low broadband penetration rate remains a challenge to the majority of small and medium enterprises in the Philippines with only four percent of SMEs subscribing to broadband services, an executive of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company said Wednesday.
Chris Lim, assistant product manager for PLDT SME Nation, said the company has a total of 700,000 fixed line and wireless broadband subscribers as of early 2008. He said that of the more than one million SMEs in the country, only 23 percent have computers and only 22.5 percent use the Internet.
Lim said many business owners think of Internet broadband service as "nice to have" instead of a necessary business tool. He said businesses who do not utilize the Internet are missing out on the additional benefits provided by increased Internet accessibility including improved operations efficiency and increased revenue avenues.
"As PC and broadband penetration increases, big and small businesses benefit," he said at the two-day Search Engine Marketing Conference 2008 in Makati City.
Lim said PLDT SME Nation is looking at the untapped market of SMEs as a strong growth driver for tailor-fit broadband services. After all, he said the SME market comprises 99.6 percent of all registered firms in the country, employing 70 percent of the labor force.
He said one trend among business owners is an increase in demand for wireless broadband especially for Smart Bro subscribers. He said business owners searching for a service provider with the broadest range of solutions should consider PLDT's extensive wireless network with over 7,000 cellsites nationwide.
He said PLDT SME Nation is also offering a Web site builder service that creates, edits and hosts Web sites for SMEs for only P800 a month.
