Philippines unwired: facing the challenges of ‘brave new world’ By MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN For Saipan Tribune

MANILA-It is going to change the way we live. This new wave of technology will put the world at people’s fingertips. One can check stock quotes while dining in a restaurant; send e-mail messages while sitting on the bus; and pay bills while doing the morning ritual inside the toilet.

Pardon the last example; it may be a little gross but that’s exactly how convenient it’s going to be with the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)—a way of surfing the net and conducting transactions through mobile phones. WAP is Internet minus the PC and the telephone lines.

And what has it got to do with a seemingly lowtech country?

A lot, local e-xperts say.

The Philippines, which has gained fame (or notoriety?) for being the “Texting Capital of the World,” will not only be a good wireless market but will in fact be the launching pad for the “unwired” technology. (The dark “Love bug” episode notwithstanding).

“The Filipinos will show the world the potential of text messaging,” Arcy Canumay, director of Ayala, said at yesterday’s E-conomy 101 forum sponsored by the Ayala Group at the Ayala Towers in Makati City.

The Philippines may have a very small number of computer owners and an even smaller number of those wired to the Internet, but it has the fastest-growing mobile phone sector, which-combined with the pool of competent computer programmers- lays the groundwork for wireless Internet, Canumay said.

Promoters expect the wireless Internet to spread even faster than the wired one, because, from now on, nearly every cellphone sold will have standard Web-browser software built in, which will enable the users to shop for books, read the news, and open email boxes.

The industry is now awaiting the arrival of the so-called third generation (3G) mobile technology where data will travel at blistering speed—2 megabits per second in contrast to today’s 9.6 kbps “New users will be buying a new generation of mobile phones,” said Canumay.

Some fear that the Philippines’ inadequate telecommunications infrastructure may hamper the development of this new technology.
Wrong.

E-xperts said the seeming handicap in fact gives the country an edge because “any new construction can now conform to the requirements of the Internet age.”

By comparison, they added, developed countries “are saddled by an old technology network that has to be retrofitted at great cost.”
Filipinos cannot just sit and watch as technological revolution unfolds, said Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, president of Ayala Corporation.

Besides the onset of unwired technology, Ayala said the Filipino people also have to catch up with the dot.com economy (selling and buying and doing other transactions online).

“The new economy is real and will affect our businesses,” Ayala warned. “The Philippines is not and cannot be immune from these trends.”

Because products and services are available in the worldwide web, local business owners feel threatened by their global competitors.

On the other hand, Ayala said, local industries should look at the other side of the coin. The dot.com economy, he said, has given every business entity the chance to become a global player and access the global market, which one was unable to reach via the conventional transactions.

“The future is exciting and something bewildering but one thing is clear: the coming New Economy will favor nimbleness and imagination, not massiveness,” he said. “As the Internet wave sweeps the globe, the choices are clear: surf or be swamped.”
The revolution is far from over.