Philippines - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts. The Surge in Broadband Internet in the Philippines is Continuing as the Mobile Market Slows

After years of solid growth, the mobile segment of the telecom market in the Philippines has slowed significantly, reflecting, among other things, a general downturn in the Philippine economy. Although the economy has certainly picked up, growth in mobile subscribers continued at a generally slower pace, with mobile revenue growth also down. Into 2011 the Philippines mobile market had around 90 million mobile subscribers. Penetration was approaching the 100% milestone and continued modest growth (5%-10%) looked likely. In the meantime the brightest news has been growing interest in broadband services, with the major players in the local telecom market starting to invest heavily in the expansion of broadband access and looking at both wired and wireless broadband platforms to provide coverage. This report (17th Edition) provides a comprehensive overview of the trends and developments in telecommunications and digital media markets in Philippines. Subjects covered include: Key Statistics Markets, Industry Overviews and Analysis Regulatory Environment Major Telecom Operators (Mobile, Fixed, Broadband) Infrastructure Mobile Voice and Data Markets Internet, VoIP, IPTV Broadband (DSL, cable, FttH, wireless) Digital Media Key Highlights: Growth in mobile subscribers in 2011 was likely to be less than 10%. Although the SMS market has peaked, Filipinos were still sending an estimated 1.8 billion SMS messages every day coming into 2011. Social networking websites were becoming increasingly popular and changing the shape of the telecoms market. There were an estimated 6.1 million broadband subscribers by mid-2011, however this still only represented less than 7% of the population. PLDT remained the country's leading broadband operator. Growth in the fixed-line market remained sluggish. Fixed teledensity stood at less than 4% with no growth expected in the short term. The Philippine telecom sector continued to be an important element in the local economy, contributing over 10% to the country's GDP.