The scope of ICT technologies and services in the country includes fixed telephone lines, wireless communications, and broadband Internet, among others. Cellular mobile telephone service (CMTS) is by far the dominant telecommunications service in the market, covering 94.7 percent22 of total municipalities, as compared with 53.9 percent23 coverage for fixed telephone lines. Despite the continued expansion and success in CMTS, a number of unserved municipalities still exist. Coverage gaps need to be addressed to achieve universal access and service for telephony.
Meanwhile, the country's fiber-based backbone network provides for domestic and international broadband connectivity with about 63 provinces (79%) in the country having fiber-based infrastructure. Further, at least 761 cities and municipalities (about 50%) are considered to be covered with fixed or mobile broadband Internet services.24 However, the presence and geographic reach of mobile broadband (usually 3G wireless technology) in said areas is still very limited and only covers urban centers and boundaries.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
22 Source: COMELEC data, used as of last 2010 Automated Election, where 5.26 percent of municipalities were identified to have not been covered by any mobile network service. It should be noted however that CMTS coverage in some municipalities may only be referring to the town centers, with remote barangays and schools of such municipalities still having no connection yet.
23 Source: NTC, 2009
24 Source: CICT