ISPs a vanishing breed

I'm not sure if the situation is similar in other countries, but the technology companies we've come to know as ISPs (Internet service providers) are in danger of becoming obsolete in the Philippines.

William Bill Torres, the "Father of the Philippine Internet" and co-founder of Mozcom, and the country's first ISP, discussed this predicament during the recent APRICOT technical conference when he said ISPs are no longer what they used to be.

The main culprit, of course, is the telcos which have now become ISPs themselves, robbing the traditional ISPs of their main business of providing Internet connectivity to consumers. It's a pity that some local ISPs are now left with the miserable task of providing pre-paid dial-up Internet services (yes, it's still available here).

There used to be an active industry group called PISO (Philippine Internet Services Organization), but the rapid developments in the ICT sector may have already pushed it to oblivion. At its peak, the association had about 30-plus ISP members.

Although its members are still around, particularly Mozcom, the ISP community has arguably lost its luster in the industry. Not a few players were forced to reinvent themselves, if not close shop altogether.

According to Torres, who is revered as a tech icon for his pioneering IT efforts, the entry of telcos in the Internet service space has left local ISPs no recourse but to evolve and offer value-added services (VAS) to subscribers.

He said the telcos are the Goliaths and the ISPs are the Davids of the industry, and it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to battle the giants except to offer something to consumers that the telcos do not provide.

While I sincerely hope that the strategy brought up by Torres will prove effective, I'm afraid that the VAS space he's talking about will again be invaded and dominated by the telco behemoths.

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Melvin G. Calimag

Melvin G. Calimag currently writes for the infotech section of a popular English broadsheet in the Philippines. Prior to this, Melvin served as an assistant editor at Metropolitan Computer Times (MCT), the first IT publication in the Philippines. He is currently the vice president for internals at the IT Journalists Association of the Philippines (CyberPress), and also serves as a charter member with the Philippine Science Journalists Association.