Nokia sees LTE growth in the PHL spurred by mid- and low-income families

If international trends are any indication, the Philippines is ripe for LTE high-speed internet adoption, according to Leslie Shannon, Senior Strategic Marketing Manager of Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN), the LTE distributor to the country's two main mobile networks, Globe Telecom and Smart Communications.

 

There are as yet no studies of Filipino consumers' usage of LTE, being a recently-introduced technology.

However, Shannon cited a study by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers showing that the Philippines is 17th in the world in terms of the number of smartphone owners—ahead of Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Argentina, among other countries. 

“(The Philippines) is a very switched-on country when you look globally,” Shannon said.

“Because if you look at GDP, the Philippines is right between Cambodia and Thailand. You guys are streets ahead of both of them,” Shannon said, adding that Thailand only acquired 3G technology earlier this year.

“This is a country that understands technology. And people love it,” she adds. “And so (there is) huge, huge promise and potential here.”

Another reason why LTE has not gotten as much traffic as 3G, according to Shannon, is because adoption of the former has not yet reached beyond the extent of fixed, land-based connections such as DSL. But once it does, as with what happened with 3G technology, then LTE usage may be seen to increase.

“We saw that absolutely in 3G, and that is the pattern that we see in LTE as well,” Shannon said.
 

“LTE is big where DSL is not,” she explained further, pointing to case studies in Australia and the UK.

 

Studies in the UK and Australia

 

People in downtown and rural areas in Sydney, Australia—where DSL connections are sub-par or nonexistent—use the newer and faster LTE connections much more often compared to high-income homes and offices that have fixed and fast DSL connections.

 

“With new technology, the immediate assumption is: 'This is for rich people',” Shannon said. But, apparently for LTE, it isn't necessarily the case: “LTE is used for connecting people who don't have good DSL,” she explained.

 

The Australian study also showed that LTE traffic is higher in places where people spend their leisure time like shopping malls, train stations, convention centers, and hotels. It is not used in homes or offices where fixed and fast connections can be accessed.

 

Meanwhile, in the UK, a study by communications regulator Ofcom confirmed this data showing that it is the younger, poorer renters in the UK that use mobile data.

 

LTE fills DSL gaps

 

A study done by companies Informa and Mobidia on Wi-Fi usage of smartphone users around the world showed that majority of smartphone users still use private Wi-Fi both at home and at work.  

 

“LTE does not pick up in any country until the coverage pushes out beyond where fixed (connection) is,” Shannon said. “When you've got good wifi, you don't use cellular (connection) at all.”

 

LTE is generally much faster than DSL connections because of shorter latency, which is technically the time between the click of a button to the time you receive a response – more commonly known as lag.

 

“Bandwidth is just flat-out speed. But the structure of LTE allows the latency to be extremely short,” Shannon said.

 

Implications for the Philippines

 

According to Shannon, if the Philippines adopts similar behavior, two scenarios may take place:

 

In the urban setting, the out-and-about smartphone owners could be the most common users of LTE since studies show that LTE is more commonly used outside homes and work areas.

 

In provinces, LTE can also be more commonly used, provided that the telecommunications companies expand their coverage reach to these areas which are beyond where fixed connections are today.

 

Another consideration is the price of LTE smartphones which are usually high for the low-income people that seem to use LTE more often.

 

“But once it does, I think we're going to see a massive change not just in the Philippines but right around the world as really good access to information comes up,” Shannon said.  

 

In the meantime, non-LTE device users can still get an LTE connection by using a dongle. — TJD, GMA News