COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES

Before ICT in the PH

Before 1928, telecommunications in the Philippines was segmented. You could only call people
within your own small city.

1928: Telecoms in the Philippines

1928 American-owned PLDT was incorporated and given the franchise to establish and operate
telephone services in the Philippines. Small phone companies in the provinces were acquired to
speed up the rollout process.

Nov. 28, 1928 The Philippine long distance telephone company or PLDT. The leading telecommunication
provider in the Philippines.

It was established through the Act 3436 by the Philippine Legislature and approved by the American
Governor – General Henry L. Stimson.

Emerging for telecom firms under common United State ownership the law granted PLDT a 50 years
charter and the right to establish telephone lines to various areas within the country within 40 years
from the data of its approval.

1930
Philippines was first linked to the outside world via radiotelephone services to the United States and
other parts of the world.

However, during World War II, the telephone services was interrupted with communication
infrastructure were destroy.

1968 Filipinos Connecting Filipinos to the World

PLDT became a Filipino-controlled corporation bought by Ramon Cojuangco.

December 20, 1967, a group of Filipino entrepreneurs and businessmen led by Ramon Cojuangco took
control over PLDT. He bought shares from the American Telecommunication Company GTE to own the
PLDT.

1970
PLDT was nationalized by the government President Ferdinand Marcos

1981
The company purchased all of the assets and liabilities of Republic Telephone Company, becoming the
country’s telephone monopoly.

1986
PLDT company was reprivatized
1987: Cellular Telephone Network
PLDT establishes the country’s first cellular telephone network.

1993: Birth of the Philippine Internet

With the support of the Department of Science and Technology and the Industrial Research
Foundation, the Philnet project (now PHNET ) was born.

1994: Our First Internet Connection

Benjie Tan, who was working for ComNet established Philippines’ first connection to the
Internet at a PLDT network center in Makati City.

1994 that internet has become available to the public.

Dr. William Torres become the grandfather of the Philippine Internet

Dr. John Brule, a professor Emeritus in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Syracuse University
announced: “We’re in,”, during the First International E-mail Conference at the University of San Carlos
Technological Center in Talamban, Cebu. This signified that Philnet’s 64 kbit/s connection was live.
Considered as the day that Philippines is finally connected to the International Web.

Unfortunately, 2 days late due to slight technical difficulties, the Philippines was finally connected to the
Internet via SprintLink.

March 29, 1994 The router CISCO 7000 that connected the Philippines to the internet was switched on.

The Philippine router, a Cisco 7000 router was attached via the services of PLDT and Sprint
communication to Sprintlink’s router at Stockton Ca.

The gateway to the world for the Philippines will be via NASA Ames Research Center.

2010
29.8 million Internet Users in the Philippines.

2011
Social Networking Capital of the World with a percentage of 93.9 for Facebook alone.

2012
The cybercrime prevention act of 2012 was officially recorded as Republic no. 10175 on Sept. 12, 2012

2013: The Massive Growth of the Country’s Mobile Networks

Our Mobile Cellular Subscriptions reach 102 million.
2014: Fastest Growing Connections
The Philippines named fastest growing internet population in the last five years with a growth of
531%
 
Number of Philippine Internet users at 38 million out of a population of 100 million.

2017: Internet Connection Population Penetration

119M Mobile Phone Subscriptions in the Country (117% Penetration Rate)
 
95% Prepaid
 
Greater 10% Broadband Subscription
 
55% Mobile Broadband Subscription
 
80% Subscribed to the Lowest Speed Plans (1-3 MBPS)

TODAY IN ICT: THE TIME WE SPENT ONLINE

3.2 HOURS ON MOBILE PHONES
5.2 HOURS ON DESKTOP / TABLETS

- Currently, we have one of the highest digital populations in the world

- The internet user growth rate shows no signs of slowing down either.