The Philippines: in view of future e-leadership

Despite an evident increase of Internet users in the Philippines it is too early to tell about the rapid grow of e-commerce. This became known from the report of market research firm AC Nielsen which have said that the number of Internet users has increased from 14 million present in 2006 to 24 million, registered today.

The Department of Trade and Industry's Office of Policy Research said that they believe that if physical and legal infrastructure improved, small and medium-sized business could benefit from e-commerce if physical and legal infrastructure is improved. They believe that there are a lot of challenges to reach it today, including terms of e-commerce, low public access to the internet, weak enforcement of intellectual property rights, the lack of cyber crime and payment systems laws. According to the study they it is necessary to enact data privacy law, as well as stronger cyber crime penalties and related government programs. Also it is necessary to strengthen control over payment processing operators and to motivate companies to provide better goods and services to their customers.

The Philippines has everything to become one of the leaders of e-commerce in its region. The only obstacles existing today are low level of protection and problem of accessibility.

Aynny, reporter of Ecommerce Journal