The number of establishments under the information economy which owned and used computers and communication equipment in their business operations increased by 52.2 percent to 5,533 in 2019 compared to 3,637 in 2017.
A survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated a total of 5,542 establishments fall under the information economy (IE) in 2019.
The PSA said that a distinctive characteristic of the IE is the intensive use by businesses of information and communications technology (ICT) for the collection, storage, processing, and transmission of information. The use of ICT is supported by supply of ICT products from an ICT-producing sector and through trade.
For the ICT sector, only those engaged in ICT manufacturing industries had a 100-percent ownership and usage of computers and communication equipment.
Of the total IE establishments, 5,409 had Internet access in 2019, an increase by 51.4 percent from the 3,573 IE establishments with Internet access in 2017.
Among the IE industries, ICT service industries had the greatest number of establishments with internet at 3,475 followed by ICT trade industries and programming and broadcasting activities with 793 establishments and 504 establishments with Internet, respectively.
Among the transactions done by IE establishments with government offices, 3,739 establishments used the Internet in downloading or requesting government forms.
Completing forms online or sending completed forms and obtaining information from government organizations were done by 3,558 IE establishments and 3,480 IE establishments, respectively.
The least transaction done by IE establishments was using the Internet in making on-line payments to government organizations with 2,746 establishments.
There were 2,254 IE establishments that had websites in 2019, higher by 41.5 percent compared to 1,593 IE establishments recorded with websites in 2017.
Among the IE industries, ICT service industries had the highest number of 1,261 establishments with websites, while the ICT manufacturing industries had the least number of 97 establishments with websites.
A total of 1,274 IE establishments were engaged in e-commerce transactions via the internet in 2019, up by 57.3 percent from the reported level of 810 establishments with e-commerce transactions via internet in 2017.
Industry-wise, ICT service industries registered the highest number of 773 establishments with e-commerce transactions via the internet, followed by ICT trade industries with 214 establishments and programming and broadcasting activities with 86 establishments.
