THE PHILIPPINES MOBILE

INTERNET CROWD
YOUNG, AFFLUENT, AND GROWING FAST

Photo: Sivesh Kumar

This Philippines mobile trends

report combines data from a recent
survey of over 900 mobile internet
users (smartphone and feature
phone), and other publicly available
research.
Mobile internet users is a small but
fast growing group of people in a
country where 18 million Filipinos
live live on $1.25 a day or less.
The survey was conducted by On Device Research
in mid-June, 2014.
Source: Asian Development Bank 2013

Language preference of the mobile

internet users

40%

OO

English

ON
ON

ON
ON

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

60%

Filipino

ON

ON

ON
ON

ON

ON

The Philippines 2014

g
w
O
!

Population

Netizens under 29 years

97 million

Internet penetration

39%

70%

Netizens on social media

96%

Mobile penetration

101%

Source: Nielsen, Tigercub Digital, US Census Bureau, World Bank

Smartphone penetration

15%

The Philippines has the lowest smartphone

penetration in South-East Asia

15%
expected to
reach 50% in 2015

]
]

Malaysia 80%

Thailand 49%
Source: Tigercub Digital, Oxford Business Group

Singapore 87%

Indonesia 23%

Smartphone penetration is growing faster

in the Philippines than Indonesia and
Vietnam combined

>
Source: International Data Corp 2014

Lower priced local brands are expected to

drive smartphone growth
Android smartphones from
the local Big 3 are priced in
the $50-$250 range

]]]

Samsung rules, for now

Very competitive market, lots of dierent brands with low market

share making up almost a third of the Android phones in use
43%

Samsung

29%

Other
Sony

7%

CherryMobile

7%

Lenovo

5%

LG

3%

Alcatel

3%

MyPhone

3%

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 Android users in the Philppines

Huawei has eyes on the Philippines

Huawei is aggressively targeting the smartphone market,
aiming to gain 10% market share by 2015.
In June 2014 it launched Ascend G6 at
half the price ($228) compared to the
previous model P6.
Other Chinese brands like Oppo and
Xiaomi are likewise eyeing the country
for their Asian expansion.

Source: Tech in Asia, Philippine Star

28 million mobile phones sold in 2013

N O
22.9 million
feature phones

82%

Source: International Data Corp 2014

5.1 million
smartphones

18%

78O

FILIPINO MOBILE
INTERNET USERS
Young, urban, auent

NB! Survey data on following slides represents

the average mobile internet user

More women go online with their phones

compared to South-East Asia average

56% males

Average for South-East Asia

Source: The Mobile Marketing Association

f
k

63% males
37% females

44% females

45+
3%

88% of the total mobile

internet population is
under the age of 34!

]]
]

35-44
9%

25-34
35%

16-24
53%

Mobile market is young and will

continue to grow its vital for
brands to target these young
mobile-rst consumers.

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

Tablets more popular than laptops

Smartwatches, tness trackers, and e-readers owned by very few

Q. What consumer electronics do you own?

30%

Tablet computer (e.g. iPad)

25%

Laptop/netbook

23%

Desktop computer

7%

Smart TV
Smartwatch

3%

Fitness tracker (e.g. Fitbit)

2%

E-reader (e.g. Amazon Kindle)

2%

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

38% of English speakers

own a laptop or netbook,
while only 16% of Filipino
speakers do

85% plan to purchase an electronic

device in the next six months

Q. Which of the following consumer electronics do you plan on purchasing in the next six
months?

29%

Laptop/netbook
24%

Smartphone
Tablet computer (e.g. iPad)

22%

Smart TV

15%
14%

Desktop computer
10%

Feature phone

9%

Smartwatch (e.g. Samsung gear)

Fitness tracker (e.g. Fitbit)
E-reader

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

4%
2%

Top mobile carriers in

the Philippines
`

54% share

46 million subscribers

29% share

24.5 million subscribers

Other service providers include Sun Cellular,

TalkN Text, Touch Mobile, and ABS-CBN

Source: Zong

ON

44% spend less than $12 a month

on mobile plan
Q. Approximately how much do you pay on average per month for your mobile plan?

$41 per
month

$12 per
month

17%
15%

13%

12%

11%
8%

2%
Less than P99

P100-P299

P300-P499

Note: 1 Philippine Peso equals 0.023 US Dollar

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

P500-P799

P800-P999

P1,000-P1,799 P1,800-P2,499

1%
More than
P2,500

The Philippines has one of the slowest

LTE speeds worldwide
Smart Communications is
the 5th slowest network
among 38 surveyed with
4.43 Mbps
Globe Telecom is the 7th
slowest network with 6.46
Mbps
* Australian networks have the
fastest LTE with 24.5 Mbps
Source: Open Signal
Photo: EricOuano

2 out of 5 mobile internet users

are happy with their data speed

SATISFIED
41%
NEUTRAL
34%
UNSATISFIED 25%

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

Filipinos are drawn to unlimited

internet packages
Q. Select the level that is closest to your mobile internet package

17%

7%
100MB

700MB

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

50%

12%

11%
3%

3GB

5GB

Unlimited

I don't have
internet access
through my
postpaid plan

40% of smartphone
owners in the Philippines
spend over 5 hours a day
on their phone
Source: Global Web Index

94%
G

of internet users in the Philippines

use Facebook

G
F
F G F G
F
F
F
G F
G
F
Source: Tech in Asia

Only 54% in the US do

42%

of total screen time in the

Philippines is on social media

Filipino social media users are

region spending 4

#1in the Asia Pacic

hours/day in all social channels

China: 1.5 hours/day

Source: Tencenet, Facebook, CNNIC, Statistic Brain

Indonesia: 2.9 hours/day

80% use Facebook Messenger

Note that 2nd and 3rd most popular apps both oer free
international calls
Q. Which chat apps do you use regularly (at least once a week)?

82%

Facebook Messenger
Viber

27%

Skype

27%
17%

Yahoo Messenger

16%

Twitter

15%

WeChat
Line
WhatsApp
Kakao Talk

10%
8%
9%

b
Source: On Device Research, June 2014
n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

Apps are extremely popular

32%

of Filipino smartphone owners download

six or more apps per month

45% of these people

have paid for app installs or

in-app purchases each month

Source: Jana 2014, Vserv 2013

78% of mobile internet

users downloaded an app or

game in the last month

52% have recently bought

something on their phone

Q. Which of the following have you purchased via a social messaging app within the
past week?

29%

Games

19%

Music

11%

Videos

10%

Stickers

8%

Calls worldwide

4%

Physical items
Gift cards
Virtual gifts

3%
2%

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

In November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan

devastated the Philippines killing over 6,250
people and injuring another 28,650.

Disaster warnings
go mobile
App developers and mobile operators stepped
in to save lives change the way people are
warned about natural disasters in the future.
Source: Wikipedia

Apps like RaincheckPH

and iTyphoon alert users
of weather threats
However, only 16% of mobile
internet users have used one of
these typhoon warning apps.
What about the rest?

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

Mobile emergency alerts are

now required by law
In June 2014 the Philippines passed a law ordering all
mobile operators to send warnings to those in the path
of typhoons and other natural disasters.

Source: Dailyjournal, June 2014

Typhoon relief gave mobile cash

usage a boost
Globe BanKO partnered with Mercy
Corps to help people receive mobile
cash transfers as only 27% of people
have bank accounts.
Nearly 22,000 households were
introduced to the service, receiving
much needed nancial support to
recover from the disaster.
Source: GMA News, May 2014

The average population is quite dierent from the mobile internet users

73% of the Filipino population does

not have a bank account

Credit card penetration is only

3%

Alternative payment methods have

cropped up to cater the cardless
population.
Source: Tech in Asia, World Bank
Photo: Kevin Servigon

Over half have used online payment

services in the last 3 months
Q. Which payment services have you used in the last 3 months?

12%

GCash

11%

PayPal

10%

Smart Money
PayCash by Pesopay

8%

BancNet

8%

Other payment services

Other payment services include for example
Dragon Pay, Apptivate and Bitcoin.
Source: On Device Research, June 2014
n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

9%

Ewallets from leading mobile providers

are the most popular
O Ewallets like Smart Money and
GCash allow users to pay bills,
reload airtime, and transfer
money to businesses and people
O Users load ewallets with cash
via in store transactions
O 22% use either Smart Money
from Smart Communications or
GCash from Globe Telecom
Source: On Device Research, June 2014
n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

Online cash payment platforms

Cash payment processing services that allows

merchants to sell online and get paid in cash.
Merchants can accept cash payments at more
than 5,000 outlets nationwide.

Usage of these services isnt widespread yet

only 8% have used PesoPay.

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

Over half are streaming music

Q. Which of the following music streaming services do you use regularly (at least once a week)?

13%

Spotify

11%

Spinnr

10%

My Pinoy Radio

8%

Soundcloud

6%

Radio Republic
Amplify
Other

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

3%
8%

Spotify usage edged on by telco tie-in

Globe Telecom oers its
GoSURF mobile data plan
subscribers free Spotify
Premium access.
70% of people who said they
use Spotify are on GoSURF
data plan.

Source: On Device Research, June 2014

n=900 mobile internet users in the Philippines

Want Excel tables

with the survey data?
Contact siim@ondeviceresearch.com
On Device Research uses the mobile
internet to gain access to consumer
opinions at any time, place or country.

Find out more:

ondeviceresearch.com
Siim Teller
siim@ondeviceresearch.com
@teller
+44 20 7278 6627

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