United Nations Net-Connectivity Report

The United Nations (UN) has projected that 2.7 billion people or 40 percent of the world’s population will be connected to the Internet by the end of 2013. In its International Telecommunication Union-Information and Communication Technology (ITU-ICT) Index, the UN said mobile broadband is the fastest growing segment of the global ICT market today.

The ITU-ICT Index ranked 157 countries, including the Philippines, based on their level of ICT access, use, and skills. It said that 250 million people were connected online in 2012, but 4.4 billion remain unconnected. Of 1.1 billion households worldwide not yet connected to the net, 90 percent were in developing countries, mostly in Africa. The high cost of net access in developing countries was restricting uptake and causing a “digital divide,” it noted.
South Korea led the world in ICT development for the third consecutive year, followed by Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong (China). The Philippines was ranked No. 98. Governments are prioritizing ICT as major lever of socio-economic growth, the Index said, projecting that by the end of 2013, there would be 6.8 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions worldwide.
The Index described as “digital natives” those “15-24 years old with five or more years of online experience.” About 30% of world’s young people fall into this category, the ITU-ICT report said. In developed countries, 86% or 145 million young Internet users are digital natives. Of 503 million young Internet users in developing nations, less than half are digital natives. The digital native population in these regions is expected to double by 2017.
We congratulate the United Nations headed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure, for their coordinative efforts to monitor for policy-making how countries and their citizens are able to keep in step with new technologies and breakthroughs in the digital age in our Republic of the Philippines and worldwide. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

United Nations Net-Connectivity Report

The United Nations (UN) has projected that 2.7 billion people or 40 percent of the world’s population will be connected to the Internet by the end of 2013. In its International Telecommunication Union-Information and Communication Technology (ITU-ICT) Index, the UN said mobile broadband is the fastest growing segment of the global ICT market today.

The ITU-ICT Index ranked 157 countries, including the Philippines, based on their level of ICT access, use, and skills. It said that 250 million people were connected online in 2012, but 4.4 billion remain unconnected. Of 1.1 billion households worldwide not yet connected to the net, 90 percent were in developing countries, mostly in Africa. The high cost of net access in developing countries was restricting uptake and causing a “digital divide,” it noted.
South Korea led the world in ICT development for the third consecutive year, followed by Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong (China). The Philippines was ranked No. 98. Governments are prioritizing ICT as major lever of socio-economic growth, the Index said, projecting that by the end of 2013, there would be 6.8 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions worldwide.
The Index described as “digital natives” those “15-24 years old with five or more years of online experience.” About 30% of world’s young people fall into this category, the ITU-ICT report said. In developed countries, 86% or 145 million young Internet users are digital natives. Of 503 million young Internet users in developing nations, less than half are digital natives. The digital native population in these regions is expected to double by 2017.
We congratulate the United Nations headed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure, for their coordinative efforts to monitor for policy-making how countries and their citizens are able to keep in step with new technologies and breakthroughs in the digital age in our Republic of the Philippines and worldwide. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

Google Wi-Fi Passport launches in Indonesia, offers cheap Internet access

Google has rolled out a service in Indonesian capital Jakata, which allows users to hop on Wi-Fi hotspots for free or at affordable rates. The service, called Wi-Fi Passport, is exclusively for Android users via an app.

"It's way quicker than congested 3G connections, and there's no need to keep entering passwords or re-registering on hard-to-use Web sites either," said Google on its site. Users are allowed usage of up to 3GB of data in a single day, or 7GB over seven days, and 10GB over 30 days.

Currently voucher codes that allow free usage for the first 10 days are available at promotional events. Otherwise, the service costs 20,000 rupiah (US$1.86) for 20 days or 50,000 rupiah (US$4.65) for 50 days via Google's partner MOGPlay.

As part of Google's push to get "the next billion" online and using its services, various initiatives it's launched so far include Free Zone which debuted in the Philippines, which allows Web access on featurephones for free as long as they visit the site via Google Search. It also launched the service in India via a tie-up with telco Airtel.

In June, the Web giant kicked off Project Loon, where a string of networked balloons helped deliver broadband signals to people living in rural and remote areas.