Cellphones and tablets are clogging the net!

The world’s number one terrorist Osama bin Laden was killed by a crack US Navy Seal team on the 1st of May, the Feast of the Divine Mercy. Reports emanating from the White House was that, bin Laden was unarmed in his room… but it was his wife who attacked the Seal who shot her in the leg, then shot bin Laden in the head and chest. This incident was witnessed in real time by no less than US President Barack Obama, State Secretary Hilary Clinton and his cabinet. There was to be no mercy for Osama bin Laden.

That his body was hastily buried at sea to conform to Muslim ritual escapes me. It only brings out more questions than answers. But I’m sure that before they disposed of his body at sea, they must have done a thorough autopsy on him, took all the photographs and DNA tests to ensure that the man they killed was Osama bin Laden. I do not doubt that bin Laden is dead. But I would like to believe that Americans do not kill an unarmed man. But it is more than obvious to me that a dead Bin Laden is better for America than a live one, who could have been tried and used his trial as his world stage to propagate his cause no matter how diabolically twisted or evil it is.

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There is a not-so-quiet revolution happening in the telecoms industry triggered by the new technology where mobile phones are no longer just simple communicating devices for voice or text messages. These days, most high-end and even medium end cellphones are already miniature computers that can send and get emails and surf the web. A lot of these devices are already cameras that would put a 10-year old digital camera to shame.

Very recently, Globe Telecom launched its 4G mobile technology across Metro Manila (it’s not yet here in Cebu) so in effect, they have upped the technology ante in this high stakes poker game in the telecoms technology. Hot on their heels, Smart Communications, Inc. also launched its 4G mobile technology, but I guess this technology race ends here as Digitel already sold to the Philippine Long Distance and Telephone (PLDT) company.

Right now, there are already four million internet users in the Philippines, the majority of whom use USB sticks like Globe’s Tattoo, Sun Broadband and SmartBro of Smart Telecoms. I also learned that close to 70 percent of Filipinos use internet cafes for their email and browsing services. This has pushed the competition between the telecoms to the brink, offering unmetered surfing in internet cafes to as low as P50 bucks per day. With rates as low as this, poor students can now join the bandwagon of internet users.

This brings us to the problem that everyone is complaining about, good quality service. It is common to hear people with Smart phones complaining about dropped calls and the like, but if you ask Globe users, they also have the same problems. In short, no one amongst the Telcos can claim that they are better or superior than the other. This is due to the reality that internet use has become so widespread, people in the know purchase books, music or movies from the internet and download it into their computers. Add the new rage called Tablets into this equation and everyone suffers.

I understand that more than 95% of internet users are using about 500MB to 800MB in capacity. But it is the other 5% of those users who download over 1GB per day and therefore they hog about 40% of the total broadband network capacity, which in effect blocks the other internet users. Most of these users are downloading pirated material or worse, porn films!

So how should we “unclog” our clogged internet networks? Of course the answer is simple, stop downloading heavy stuff so others can have better use of the internet. But then that is next to impossible to control. One suggestion was to adopt a “Fair Use Policy” (FUP) for the Telecom Industry, which the Telcos from many nations like the UK, Hong Kong or Australia are doing. I understand that last year, Globe Telecom began to adopt this policy. But whether they are successful in this endeavor, I will have to find out first.

Meanwhile the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators (PCTO) is proposing a maximum cap that would be imposed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in order to guarantee to their consumers that no one monopolizes the use of their respective services. I’m writing this now in order to ring the alarm bells in the industry that this problem is already affecting everyone.

In a related Telco issue, my sources within the NTC told me that someone had questioned the recently hatched PLDT-DIGTEL deal to the NTC because it might bring us back to the old monopolistic days when PLDT was the only telecommunications company in this country. They say that this is a threat to the free competition that made our Telco industry the most dynamic in the world. We shall be commenting more on this in our future columns.

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