Broadband bandwagon

Broadband technology is fast becoming a raging fashion in most of Asia – and guess what – the Philippines is not into it, at least not yet.

I arrived at this impression just recently after I attended the Broadband World Forum Asia last week in Yokohama, Japan. The event was organized by the IEC (International Engineering Consortium) and supported by major broadband players such as Alcatel, which sponsored my trip as the lone media representative from the Philippines.

Japan, the world’s second largest economy, hasn’t attained that same level of success in terms of broadband penetration as compared with its next-door neighbor South Korea. But this may soon change as Japan, known for being always at the forefront of technological innovations, has made clear of its vision to transform into a broadband nation.

And when the Japanese say they want to deploy broadband connectivity to homes and offices, they’re referring to fiber-optics, not to copper-based xDSL that is already pervasive in that country.

This case is roughly the same for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, which are often lumped together with Japan and South Korea, as countries in Asia that can claim to have mature broadband markets.

But how important really is broadband to the life of a nation? Is it as vital as having, say, a good telephone network? The answer is much more than that.

The picture is far broader than just having a working telephone, radio, TV, and Internet infrastructure.

The runaway success of South Korea is a case in point.

It has made broadband technology its nervous system where almost all economic activities of the nation emanate. Thanks to broadband, the country is now the undisputed king of online gaming, earning millions of dollars of revenues from popular titles such as Ragnarok Online.

This is one rewarding effect that, I think, even the visionary leaders of South Korea did not expect when they were still laying out the broadband infrastructure of their country. An accidental benefit that brought in the money, as some might say.

It may be costly — or even risky — to jump on the broadband bandwagon, but as shown by the Korean example, it is the only way in which struggling nations can tap the power of modern technology and the Internet for their own advantage. Also, the advent of 3G technology would make that jump to broadband inevitable.

Obviously, Japan’s largest telecommunications company, the NTT Group, has gotten a firm grasp of this reality. Noteworthy is the welcome message of its president and CEO, Norio Wada, to the broadband forum participants: "The field of infocommunications is now facing a great turning point throughout the world. We are witnessing the spread of the broadband and ubiquitous network environment through the shift from fixed-line to mobile and from voice to data and video communications."

Indeed, the Philippines is now on a crossroads, only in a different level with that of Japan. While Japanese carriers are now contemplating of a massive deployment of fiber-optic-based broadband network, the Philippines is still grappling to migrate from dial-up access.

As indicated in the latest study done by research firm IDC, dial-up continues to be the most popular Internet access service in the country in 2004, although it did not disclose its actual market share. It cited, however, that "broadband access, particularly ADSL, is on the upswing."

The survey also noted the total Internet access services subscribers reached 3.2 million, or a 45-precent growth from the end of 2003. "Pure-play Internet service providers (ISPs) dominate the dial-up market in terms of number of subscribers, while carriers lead the broadband market," IDC said.

This survey puts into the spotlight the crucial roles of industry players and the government in establishing a sound broadband policy that would benefit the whole country.

In order that roll-out of broadband technologies can be made easier and faster, the government can perhaps cultivate a more open and collaborative environment where private enterprises can freely compete to offer the best service. I’m not talking here about fiber-optics; a DSL connection can be a good starting point.

The private sector, on the other hand, can assist the government in delivering basic services to the people via the Internet using broadband technology.

Government agencies can then be linked to each other using the same infrastructure. This way, e-governance is facilitated which in turn will pave the way for a healthy economy.

Too good to be true? South Korea and Japan are living proofs that these can happen.

Comments to melvsgc@yahoo.com or infotech@mb.com.ph