MAKATI -- Despite the presence of 56 million HSPA (high speed packet access) connections in the Asia Pacific, the Philippines still lags behind its neighboring countries in terms of mobile broadband take-ups.

“There are only fewer than a million subscribers here for mobile broadband and that is quite poor, considering that 3G was already offered here since 2004 or 2005,” said GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) Association senior director for services Jaikishan Rajaraman.

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GSM Association (GSMA), the global industry body representing the interest of nearly 800 mobile operators worldwide, considers the Philippines an important and vibrant
mobile market where it wants to improve mobile broadband access.

The Philippines has more than 64 million GSM subscribers. Its number of mobile connections is expected to grow at 36 percent in the next three months, with 77,000 new connections being added every month.

At present, though, the country dawdles behind India, Malaysia and Indonesia, said Rajaraman, even though 3G licenses have already been awarded. Filipinos heavily use voice calls and short message service (SMS).

Rajaraman admitted he is yet to find out the factors behind the Philippines’ delay in fully embracing HSPA through a future meeting with the country’s telecommunications companies, government agencies and other stakeholders.

HSPA refers to a family of high-speed 3G digital data services provided by cellular carriers using GSM technology.

“We want to understand if there is anything (GSMA) could do to help. We have done a lot of work in India, Vietnam and Malaysia to create awareness of this (service) and explain to the operators the importance of sustainable mobile broadband access,” he said.

Targets

The GSMA is targeting to have around one billion mobile broadband subscribers by 2012. The group is already reporting about five million subscribers per month, excluding India where licensing issues for such service are still being sorted out.

Rajaraman said this target is “extremely achievable” due to the annual three to five percent decrease in network infrastructure costs, expected decline of price of HSPA modules from $70 to $35 in the next 18 months, and the production of many mobile phone sets.

He was in Makati yesterday as one of the speakers in The Philippines Telecom International Summit 2009 at The Peninsula Manila Hotel, where he spoke about mobile broadband services for emerging markets.

In a press conference, he disclosed that there are 1.3 billion fixed lines and four billion mobile connections worldwide, with 150 million of them utilizing HSPA. He said this shows which one is being quickly adopted globally.

“Mobile broadband would be the people’s gateway to the Internet and to information. It is available right now. It is affordable and continues to become cheaper and it can be used by all sectors,” he said.

Mobile broadband, he added, stimulates growth. GSMA studies show that a 10 percent increase in mobile broadband penetration in any country is directly correlated to a one percent increase in its gross domestic product (GDP) since it contributes to business productivity.

It also spurs foreign direct investments as a result of good ICT infrastructure and an increase in knowledge, skills and improved services through broadband.

Rajarama cited Australia, which used HSPA networks to deliver weather updates for farmers, provide real-time reports for firefighters, provide business data support on oil rigs, offer rescue safety support, give rural and remote education, and provide consumer applications.

In the next few years, GSMA sees mobile broadband as being embedded in consumer electronics, health care, government, the automotive industry and utilities.