'Phl populous nation with low Internet access'

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is one the world’s most populous nations with low home Internet access, a recent survey by US-based research institute Gallup showed.

Only 21 percent of respondents in the Philippines said yes when asked, “Does your home have access to the Internet?” while 79 percent said no.

The other countries where home Internet coverage is low are Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Mexico, the Gallup 2011 report showed.

The poll showed that China and India are two of the world’s most populous nations where “home Internet coverage as a percentage of adults may be relatively slow to increase.”

The poll used face-to-face interviews of at least 1,000 adults in each country.

Access to the Internet at home was highest in Sweden and Singapore, Gallup said.

Both countries are tied with 93 percent, followed by Denmark and the Netherlands, where more than nine in 10 said yes.

The United States is 23rd with 80 percent of the respondents reporting Internet access, followed by Germany and Japan at 77 percent and 73 percent, respectively.

Thirty-four percent of respondents in China reported home Internet access, on par with the global average, the agency said.

Gallup said the results reflect the percentage of respondents who answered yes, “rather than the percentage of households in a given country with Internet access.”

Gallup also said it is possible that the respondents have access to the Internet through other means, including schools and universities, public libraries, Internet cafes, and smartphones.

In the case of smartphones, it is possible some respondents consider it home Internet access, it added.

The more people have Internet access in their homes, the more likely they are to have easy access to news and information, and in some cases, to sell and buy products online, Gallup said.

When asked to comment on the survey, Raymund Liboro, director of the Department of Science and Technology’s Science and Technology Information Institute, said the agency is working on a program to increase Internet access in the country.

“The DOST-ICTO (Information and Communications Technology Office) has a program to increase Internet access for Filipinos,” Liboro told The STAR.

The Philippines ranked 100th out of 177 in Internet access either through fixed or mobile connections, according to the United Nations Broadband Commission for Digital Development report “State of Broadband 2012,” which was released last year.