■ INTERNET PENETRATION IN THE COUNTRY HIT 66 PERCENT

As of this month, internet penetration in the Philippines hit 66 percent, a jump from 58 percent last January. The report is a compilation of social media management platform Hootsuite and global creative agency We Are Social, obtained from the world’s largest studies of online behavior. With roughly a 104-million population, 69 million Filipinos are internet users and active social media users. Mobile subscription is also at 129.4 million, which could be attributed to the use of multiple mobile phones and/or SIM ownership by most Filipinos. Meanwhile, the share of web traffic by device was highest in laptops and desktops, which account for 53 percent.

Internet penetration in the Philippines hit 66 percent as of July 2017, a significant jump from 58 percent in January this year.

With roughly 104 people, an estimated 69 million Filipinos now have access to the internet and are active social media users.

The observations were reported by social media management platform Hootsuite and global creative agency We Are Social, and obtained from studies of online behavior by organizations including GlobalWebIndex, GSMA Intelligence, Facebook, and Ericsson Data.

Surprisingly, mobile subscription is at 129.4 million, meaning there are more phones circulating than there are people. It’s not uncommon for individuals to maintain more than one mobile phone or SIM card.

“I think this is a really interesting time for the Filipinos. We need to embrace the digital age. Having more people connected online means we need to step up the ICT (information and communications technology) of our country,” said Google Developers Group (GDG) Cebu community manager Shad Roi.

According to the same report, the share of web traffic by device was highest for laptops and desktops, which accounted for 53 percent as of July 2017. But this also dropped by 14 percent yearon-year.

Mobile phone devices, meanwhile, accounted for a 43 percent share or an increase of 28 percent year-on-year, according to StatCounter. Tablet devices represented a six-percent share and a drop of 10 percent year-onyear. “Other devices” accounted for 0.02 percent.

Some 69 million Filipinos use the social media site Facebook, with 86 percent accessing it using mobile devices. Close to half or 43 percent use Facebook “every day.”

Given these developments, Fleire Castro of digital marketing agency Third Team Media underscored the need for an intensified digital presence, especially for businesses. “In fact, they should watch out for competitors who will also be going online and ramp up their digital marketing initiatives,” noted Castro.