Akamai Technologies sees ‘ huge’ opportunity in PHL
AKAMAI Technologies, Inc., is expanding in the Philippines amid expectations of continued rise in Internet penetration and mobile phone usage here.
In a media briefing on Thursday, the US-based service provider of content delivery network, said there is a “huge opportunity” in the Philippines on the back of “rising demand” for Internet services with around 54 million Internet users in the Philippines this year, up from the 36 million seen in the past 3 years.
Globally, there are about 3.5 billion Internet users. Akamai expects there will be 20-30 billion devices by 2020.
“We’re very excited about the opportunities in the Philippines. The economic trajectory is a very clear indicator, then there’s the huge disposable income of the massive mid-market and young, tech-savy demographic which are all opportunities for us to expand,” Akamai Technologies Country Manager Gerald I. Peñaflor said at the sidelines of the firm’s press briefing yesterday.
Akamai inked a deal with PLDT, Inc.’s corporate arm, PLDT Alpha Enterprise, in 2015 to provide clients with a “more secure” Internet connection. As Akamai’s local channel partner, PLDT will offer the US firm’s solutions for delivering, optimizing, and securing online content and business applications. The partnership is expected to boost Internet experience through faster content availability and access.
Mr. Peñaflor said the content delivery provider will tap more partners to expand its clientele and add more servers in the country to grow its network, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao areas.
“Definitely the goal is to expand. In terms of servers, we started in the Philippines with 200 servers. Beginning of this year we already have 800 and we’ll add more, we’ll be deploying it especially in the South,” the Akamai executive said.
Akamai has deployed its servers across 10 cities through more than eight telecommunications operators.
In the Philippines, Akamai said the banking and e-commerce sectors, along with the government, are key areas of growth for Akamai. For instance, the ecommerce industry in the Philippines, estimated to be worth billions, is expected to be up 18% by 2021.
It will also look at possible partnerships with other firms in a bid to further scale up “depending on the demand” that will come.