TECH4GOOD
The internet has allowed everyone, individuals and businesses alike, to cope with the current crisis. Before the pandemic, some may still have viewed the internet as a luxury, but today, it has become vital. The digital highway has allowed us to go on with practically everything that we used to do pre-pandemic and more. And most businesses have shifted to digital business models to maintain operations and sustain some level of revenue flows. It has, therefore, become a basic need during these times. But the pandemic has also raised the bar and is revealing a widening digital divide. And the increased use of digital platforms has also made concerns on privacy and cybersecurity a top priority.
The OECD defines the digital divide as the gap between individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard to both their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the internet for a wide variety of activities. It is a situation that is not just happening in developing countries like the Philippines but, as OECD has highlighted in their latest report, is also a concern among developed countries.
Statista reports that as of December 2019, about 65 percent of the surveyed respondents in the National Capital Region (NCR) of the Philippines were internet users. In contrast, the internet user penetration rate in Mindanao was only about 32 percent. Within Mindanao itself, there is a wide digital divide between urban centers like Davao City and the BARMM provinces. The figures may have significantly changed during the pandemic but I believe the gaps may still be the same.
The digital divide among households appears to depend primarily on several factors like location, income, household size, age, gender, physical ability, and education. In the case of the Philippines, the biggest variables that come into play would be affordability and the availability of internet access points or infrastructure.
The webinar organized two weeks ago by the USAid Better Access and Connectivity Project titled “Better Internet Affordability in the Philippines” highlighted these two issues. It stressed that 40 percent of the total population in the country still finds mobile broadband rates in the country expensive.
The Alliance for Affordable Internet report presented during the webinar, however, reports that Filipino consumers are actually willing to pay for better internet even among low-income households. That came as a big surprise to most of us but, considering the crisis we are in right now, everyone needs a good internet connection to go on with life.
As articulated in my previous article, internet access would allow everyone to benefit from the convenience of using the different platform apps available today. Be it ordering groceries, communicating, getting entertained, learning, banking, access to information most especially those related to COVID-19, and working from home. What used to be activities that you can only do outside of your home have all been made possible by the internet. I have heard stories about how students, especially in the rural areas, are doing everything they can just to be able to connect to their online classes, access school materials, and interact with their teachers and classmates. Some of them have to stay up late in the evening in public plazas just to be able to make use of the Wi-Fi hotspots provided by DICT. What about those in far-flung barangays still waiting for their Wi-Fi hotspots? As countries work to respond and recover from this crisis, this is the moment where we need to start putting the necessary steps in place to bridge the digital gap. It has to be a well-coordinated whole-of-country approach that should result in a situation where the benefits of digital transformation will really be inclusive. The government can start by putting an inclusive digital transformation program at the front and center of its policy agenda.
Sad to say, I still have to really hear any of the presidential candidates talk about their digital transformation programs and agenda. They all should be mindful that developing a robust Philippine digital economy is the only way for us to effectively compete in the global economy. And in order to help achieve that, we need to have a more dynamic internet infrastructure industry. We should allow even the small regional players to provide more options to our internet users.
And that can only be achieved if our Congress passes the proposed Open Access in Data Transmission Act.
We should also give DICT a bigger budget like 10 times their current budget. We need the government to build its honest-to-goodness national internet backbone and make it available to all the players, big and small.
It is also unlikely that our society will return to a “pre-pandemic” old normal. This crisis has shown everyone the power of the internet and the potential of digital platforms. These changes will be very difficult to reverse. From here on, jobs, government services, education, health, social interaction, and business will be very dependent on the internet and digital technologies. Failing to understand that and not doing anything to bridge the digital divide would hinder our country’s effort to emerge stronger from the pandemic.