Free Internet anyone?

How many Filipinos know the Internet? How many have actually accessed it, surfed around, sent and received e-mails, downloaded a file or bought something through it?

Perhaps to some half a million Filipinos, these questions are pointless. But to the remaining 65.5 million people who live in this part of the world, those questions would leave them in awe because they simply have not tried the Net.

True, the Internet is the wave of the future. But how can this wave sweep through the country if not everyone has access to it?

So how do we solve this problem? Allow people to use the Net for free.

Such is the vision of a group of individuals who realized that increased access would bring down barriers and let everyone enjoy everything the Internet has to offer.

"We want to bring Internet to the masses," says Roberto Alip Jr, CEO of IT@Work, the group that developed the technology for Web-based Technology Inc.

Alip says their vision is to give Filipinos the chance to access the Internet at least once in their life. "We want Filipinos to experience first-hand what the Internet can do for them. We are not saying that it is good or bad. But they wouldn’t know if they have not experienced it at all," he explains.

So how does free Internet access happen? The trick is the Public Access Free Internet Kiosks which IT@Work has set up.

"We remember that public phones were a hit to those who could not afford a private line in their homes. For a few centavos, you could make a call. With the free Internet kiosks, you can use the Internet without spending," Alip says.

The goal is to set up Internet kiosks in places where the public frequently go – malls, hospitals, the barangay center, and even banks.

"Instead of giving individual Internet access, we can share one connection with several hundreds or thousands of individuals," Alip explains."And the cheapest way to implement free Internet is through shared access."

Like ATM machines

Internet kiosks look like ATM machines where one registers and becomes a user. Logging on by typing your username and password, the kiosks allow anyone to surf the Net, send and check web-based e-mails, and do other things for 15 minutes at no cost.

Alip says that a kiosk operating eight hours a day can accommodate 32 individuals in one day. If there are 100 kiosks available, then 3,200 persons can access the Internet each day, 96,000 each month.

"These are individuals who otherwise may not know what the Internet is all about," Alip says.

These numbers also add to potential online buyers, he says. He explains that online buying will only be possible if people go online. The fact that there is an increase in the number of people going online is enough assurance that online shopping should increase. "Then online companies have the chance to be seen more and increase their business," he says.

Providing access to the Internet for free also has many noble intentions, according to Alip, since it is their company’s vision that Internet kiosks be installed in even the remotest provinces.

"Can you imagine if a family of an OCW back here can use the Internet to communicate via e-mail with a family member working in the Middle East? Can you also imagine if Guimaras mangoes are sold online? I can place an order for those delicious mangoes wherever I am!" Alip says.

The start of a dream

At present, two free Internet kiosks have been installed at the lobby of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) main office in Makati. Geegee Bautista, of UCPB’s Strategic Innovations, says the bank has been looking for a partner that has a novel idea and it found it in WBTI.

"We have been looking for a strategic partner because we believe that the Internet medium will not benefit the entire country if we don’t reach the grassroots," she says.So far, according to her, only WBTI has made the idea a reality.

Bautista says that UCPB subscribes to the same idea of giving free Internet access to Filipinos. "How do we benefit in all of these if it is only a little percentage who are able to use it and they are not the ones who need it?" she says, adding that inertia has to be created for people to even try and touch computers.

"There is an education step required to maximize the use of the Internet. We need people to help us educate and to give free access is the most ideal way," she explains.

UCPB has launched its Connect program, a sort of Internet banking which offers various services. Having Internet kiosks in the bank has seemingly helped them promote the use of the Internet as a whole.

While he is clear about his goals, Alip knows WBTI has to make money to realize its vision.

"As in any Internet model, advertising is one revenue stream," he explains. How big an advertising industry do you need to subsidize the cost of giving free Internet access? Statistics has it that the Philippines has a P55-billion advertising industry and this is where WBTI wants to earn from.

The company’s advertising model is community-based, targeting small business entities in the community that do not normally advertise. At the kiosk, monthly ad placement is at less than P3,000 per location, allowing advertisers to focus their ads on a particular market.

"If one’s business is in Bacolod City, then he can target his exposure in this particular area only," Alip says. This means that an ad can be placed such that it is seen only in kiosks in very specific areas.

Alip adds that not all companies can afford the going rate of P100,000 a month being charged by most websites. He believes that with this amount, a company’s advertisement can be posted at kiosks in 30 locations which, to him, is more effective.

It took WBTI four years to roll out the free Internet kiosks. Many doubted the concept. "They said that anything free would not work," Alip says. "Actually, the idea of free Internet access is not our idea. Europe has done a similar thing. The US tried to do it but theirs was on an individual access."

WBTI wants to share the technology it has developed. "The technology will be available to interested parties," Alip announced. The browser, called Aurora, and the ad server are all available for people who will share the same vision. "WBTI is not an Internet service provider. It is not even a website. It is an access channel," he said.

By being an access channel, the WBTI makes the Internet open to everyone. Whether WBTI will be able to realize its dream and put up kiosks in all of UCPB’s 178 branches all over the country will now have to bee seen.

But the bank is ready to offer support. "Anywhere they can put up a connection, the space is free," Bautista says.