Most firms use the Internet for business operations and obtaining information from the government, but not for e-commerce, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its 2015 Survey on Information and Communication Technology-Information Economy (IE) for Core ICT Industries, the PSA said 51.5 percent of ICT firms used the Internet to share information within their establishment, and 83.8 percent used Internet to obtain information from government organizations.
Only 14 percent or 13.5 percent use the Internet for buying or selling goods in 2015. However, this was a 2.4-percentage-point increase from 11.1-percent.
“E-commerce is the process of buying or selling goods and services through Internet protocol-based network,” the PSA said.
Further, most firms, or around 47.4 percent, use the Internet to obtain information from other organizations, followed by finance and accounting with 41.2 percent of establishments.
Uses of the Internet for firms include internal or external recruitment with 40.6 percent of firms; sharing or distribution of information with other organizations, 39.8 percent; staff training, 31.6 percent.
Meanwhile, transactions with the government done online, include completing or sending forms online with 65.1 percent of the firms. ICT manufacturing industries, around 88.4 percent of them, use this type of transaction.
Making online payments to government organizations was the least among the transactions done by the IE establishments with Internet access.
More than three-fourths of the establishments at 75.5 percent in ICT manufacturing industries reported this type of transaction, the highest among IE industries.
Among the regions, the highest percentage utilization of e-commerce via Internet was recorded in the National Capital Region at 18.3 percent. However, non-utilization was reported in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
E-commerce can also be undertaken through computer network channels other than the Internet. Of the total IE establishments, only 1.5 percent reported having used the medium, in which, the ICT sector exhibited higher percentage at 1.7 percent than the content and media sector at 0.6 percent.