Kuwait ups the ante

ACCORDING to the February 2023 report on internet usage in the Philippines published by STATISTA, improvements in internet infrastructure is driving the growth of internet users and considered as among the highest in the region.

The report said as of November 2022, “the average download speed of fixed internet in the country was 81.42 Mbps, while mobile internet had a download speed of 24.04 Mbps. 5G network has also been rolled out nationwide in multiple cities, further improving the country’s internet connection.

This means everybody inside an institution’s area of operations will have quality broadband access to all digital services they need to be productive

“In 2022, the average download speed of the 5G network was about 9 times faster than 4G.”

Filipinos spend an average 10 hours a day online, which is higher than the world average of under three hours.

The younger netizens are mostly logging in on Meta’s Facebook and Messenger, followed by TikTok and Instagram while the not so young (over 34 years old as classified by the report) are also doing social media stuff.

Since the pandemic, more access to the internet has made social media and e-commerce the go-to channels for online shoppers and has changed, I think even revolutionized, the Filipino consumers purchasing behavior opting for the convenience of using their devices to search and buy the products and services they need.

The report estimates by 2028 approximately 77.81 percent of the Philippine population will have access to the internet.

But if the government prioritizes investments in a nationwide expansion of digital infrastructure to make digital transformation initiatives happen, this can happen much sooner.

So far, the heavy lifting as far as investing to expand and upgrade the country’s digital infrastructure is being led by the private telcos.

Increasing internet usage also changed the shopping and banking landscape in the country.

This has led to the growth of e-commerce expenditures as more Filipinos were accessing a merchant’s website or shopping apps to buy products or services on any device.

I do consider myself as a heavy internet user and needing to be online practically 24/7 to keep track of work-related correspondence and like the 86.68 million mobile phone users (STATISTA May 2023), I also spend some time streaming video, and music for some entertainment.

The smart phone is the most important communications and productivity tool in this digital world but without the stable and fast broadband services to access all the digital platforms we need every day, all we can do with it is call and text, which we can already do using various messaging apps.

If the broadband connectivity is too slow or if there isn’t even any Wi-Fi signal, we are pretty much cut off and will need to physically look for a signal to reconnect with and respond to all the messaging tasks we need to do.

I’m sure you’ve been in this situation where you’re in a building and can’t go online because of poor internet connection and can’t log into that important virtual meeting or have annoyingly intermittent signals making even audio only conversations impossible.

This is a gap in our ongoing digital transformation journey that needs the involvement of all property owners in both the public and private sectors.

As telcos are aggressively investing to expand the reach of wireless and wired broadband services, there needs to be clear standards for all buildings and public spaces to have integrated facilities to provide connectivity for all tenants, workers, customers, and visitors in their premises.

Just as electricity and water are required utilities in the building code, all buildings should be able to provide access to broadband services on demand.

One way to push property developers to retool their existing buildings and ensure that new ones are digitally ready is to come up with a clear standard of rating internet services to reflect the actual speed and quality of digital connectivity available in an establishment.

A rating system being broached by the private sector is a “Connectivity Index Rating” that would be intuitively simple to understand, similar to the five-star rating system that hotels and resorts are using.

There shouldn’t be much debate about this as the clear direction is towards gearing up to become competitive and prosperous in the digital global market.

It is actually a big boost to the brand image of an institution, government or privately owned, to get a five-star rating in connectivity.

This means everybody inside an institution’s area of operations will have quality broadband access to all digital services they need to be productive.

Developing the metrics of the Connectivity Index Rating is a policy innovation that the President can initiate with the members of the Private Sectors of Advisory Council that I am sure can be crafted expeditiously.

This will force the alignment of broadband services to the volume of user traffic in all establishments.

How to cover Trump? CNN on defensive as media wring hands—again

NEW YORK—Donald Trump’s airing of falsehoods and insults in a prime-time CNN appearance triggered a deluge of criticism of the network, as media organizations once again grapple with how to cover the rulebreaking Republican seeking to win back the White House.

Thrust on the defensive, CNN pushed back Thursday, insisting the hour-long live “town hall” in New Hampshire was key to its “role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.”

But critics said it had merely provided Trump with a powerful platform to spread repeatedly debunked claims, attack a sexual abuse victim and praise violent rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021— all in front of an applauding audience and on national television.

During the broadcast late Wednesday, watched by more than three million people, Trump answered questions from registered Republicans and undeclared voters, with anchor Kaitlan Collins moderating and asking the 2024 candidate questions of her own.

The 76-year-old frontrunner for the Republican nomination repeated his false claim that the 2020 election had been rigged for President Joe Biden, which Collins pointed out was a lie.

Trump also said that if reelected next year, he would pardon a “large portion” of the hundreds of his supporters who have been jailed for their roles in the violent 2021 attack on Congress, to clapping from members of the audience.

Trump even insulted writer E. Jean Carroll, who won a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against him on Tuesday, as a “whack job,” with some in attendance laughing at the remark.

“There is simply no way CNN can feign ignorance about the fact that they set up a sexual assault victim to be targeted and attacked on national television a day after the verdict,” tweeted Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Criticism came from outside the ranks of the Democratic Party as well.

“It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening,” the network’s own media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote in a blog on CNN’s website.

WHAT should we make of the Kuwaiti government’s recent move to suspend the entry of OFWs to the Gulf State that has strained our bilateral relations?

It would appear this is nothing but a retaliatory act against the decision of our Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to stop the deployment there of OFWs, particularly household service workers, or HSWs, following the recent rape and murder of yet another Filipina in Kuwait.

What Kuwait seems to be doing is to force our hand and make us lift the ban on the deployment of HSWs that they clearly need.

Our HSWs keep the Kuwaiti economy humming by doing household work that would otherwise keep Kuwaiti families busy with daily chores.

And what was the official reason for their action?

The Kuwaitis apparently consider the shelter that our embassy has established there as an infringement on their sovereignty.

But the shelter, like others established in places where there is a big concentration of OFWs, was created by law so that our government can protect the rights and welfare of our workers who

We simply cannot compromise on the safety and welfare of Filipino nationals abroad, whether in Kuwait or anywhere else, because it is the duty of our government to ensure this have encountered problems in their places of employment.

And yes, these shelters are there precisely to assist distressed OFWs who have been abused and mistreated by their employers.

The shelter in Kuwait, called the Migrant Workers Resource Center and also known as “Bahay Kalinga,” now accommodates a total 466 OFWs. That’s one too many abused

OFWs in one country.

Our Department of Foreign Affairs sent a team of diplomats to try to get the Kuwaiti government to rescind their order denying entry to OFWs.

The ban affected some 3,000 of our workers who had already spent considerable sums just so they could earn higher income in the Middle East than if they stayed here.

Unfortunately, the two-day meeting between the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments ended last week with still no resolution in sight.

It appears that Kuwaiti officials did not expressly demand the closure of the embassy-run shelters but only said that Kuwaitis should run such shelters.

Beyond this, according to reports, the Kuwaitis did not explain which provisions of the 2018 labor agreement between our two countries were violated.

The DFA deserves commendation for continuing to insist on the protection of our OFWs in Kuwait, which is part and parcel of its mandate and therefore non-negotiable.

We simply cannot compromise on the safety and welfare of Filipino nationals abroad, whether in Kuwait or anywhere else, because it is the duty of our government to ensure this.