Original telecommunications market research and telecommunications sector trend analysis for the national telecommunications industry.

Competitive intelligence, regional telecommunications company rankings and SWOT analyses on international and domestic telecommunications companies.

The Report provides industry professionals and researchers, operators, equipment suppliers and vendors, corporate and financial services analysts and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the national telecommunications industry.

" The Asia Telecommunications Report is used for benchmarking industry views against BMI's independent forecasts; for market research and analysis of industry trends. It also provides competitive intelligence on leading companies. "
Chi-Wen Tsai, Managing Director, ROHDE & SCHWARZ Taiwan Ltd

Key Benefits of Report

-Benchmark BMI's Independent 5-Year Telecommunications Industry Forecast to test other views - a key input for successful budgeting and strategic business planning in the national telecommunications market.
-Target Business Opportunities & Risks in the Telecommunications Sector through our reviews of latest industry trends, regulatory changes, and major deals, projects and investments.
-Exploit Latest Competitive Telecommunications Intelligence & company SWOTS on your competitors and peers through company rankings by sales, market share, investments and leading products and services.

Executive Summary
Summary of BMI's key industry forecasts and trend analysis, covering ICT, fixed-line, mobile and internet markets, and headline news of key industry events from the latest quarter.

Market Overview
At-a-glance outlook of the structure, size and value of the industry, including an overview of key players and a snapshot of regional penetration rates for fixed-line, mobile and internet markets.

Business Environment Rankings
BMI provides a cross-border analysis of telecoms regulatory systems across regional markets, and their investor prospects, discussing the merits and downfalls of each country's business environment, and ranking them in order of competitiveness. The rankings take into account industry factors, such as Market Maturity, Growth Potential, Competitive Environment and Licensing Framework in addition to BMI's political and economic risk ratings.

BMI 5-Year Industry Forecast
Historic data series and 5-year forecasts to end-2012 for all key industry indicators (see list below), supported by explicit assumptions, plus analysis of key downside risks to the main forecast.

Fixed-Line Telephony - Telephone Lines ('000); Telephone Lines/100 Inhabitants;
Cellular Telephony - Phone Subscribers ('000); Mobile Phone Subscribers/ 100 Inhabitants; Mobile Phone Subscribers/100 Fixed Line Subscribers;
Internet Markets - Internet Users ('000); Internet Users/100 Inhabitants; Broadband Internet Subscribers ('000); Broadband Internet Subscribers/100 Inhabitants;
Multimedia Markets - PCs ('000); PCs/100 Inhabitants; TV households ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers/100 inhabitants; Cable TV subscribers ('000s); Direct-to-Home Subscribers ('000s)
BMI 5-Year Macroeconomic Forecast
BMI forecasts for all headline macroeconomic indicators, including real GDP growth, inflation, fiscal balance, trade balance, current account and external debt.

Competitive Landscape & Rankings
Commentary on key operators highlighting ownership structures, latest available revenue figures, market share analysis and ARPU counts.

Company Profiles & SWOTS
Company profiles, including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses, fully researched senior executives and contact details, business activity, leading products and services, and a record of all recent foreign direct investments and projects.

The Sector At A Glance

Key Insights On The Telecomunications sector of Philippines

A dearth of competition in the Philippine telecommunications market suggests a sustained period of solid but unspectacular growth. In the country's challenging wireline sector, we suggest minimal growth, although BMI is more confident on the potential for faster growth in the Philippines' mobile and data services industries.

A poor infrastructure and a lack of government investment are the factors most responsible for a stagnant fixed-line sector. Broadband substitution and the decline in the volume of ILD inbound calls have been the results, with wireless messaging, VoIP and high-speed data services limiting the need for ILD telephony. One only has to look at PLDT's 21% y-o-y decline in its ILD revenues over the first nine months of 2006, and the operator's 21% y-o-y rise in data revenues, to get an understanding for the current consumer trends.

Compared to the high-growth markets of Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan mobile growth in the Philippines is slow. Still waiting for end of year figures, we project that there will have been just over 40mn wireless subscribers in the Philippines by the end of 2006. This still represents penetration of less than 50% leaving potential for rapid growth. However, BMI feels this growth will be solid instead, with an annual average y-o-y rise of just 8% over the next five years. It is the consumer broadband market that shows the greatest potential, with market leader PLDT on approximately 300,000 subscribers. Meanwhile, its rival Globe's broadband customer base had risen by 149% y-o-y by the end of September 2006.

Looking at incumbent operator PLDT's capex plan for 2007 clearly shows the climate of the Philippine market. The operator has stopped looking towards the wireline telecoms market, and instead is investing in the number of its wireless broadband cell sites, 3G mobile network rollout and its call-centre business. It is this, as well as its outsourcing business that is becoming an increasingly large revenue earner for PLDT. As much as 50% of ePLDT's business comes from call-centres, with a further 25% from outsourcing.

The Philippines is in 12th position in our Business Environment Rankings, only ahead of Thailand and Vietnam. PLDT and Globe dominate the telecommunications industry, resulting in a lack of competition and inward investment. However, Hong Kong conglomerate First Pacific and Japan's NTT are likely to acquire the government's 7% of its stake in PLDT that it is selling. It is probable that any investment will go towards the real industry engine of growth - broadband - and the wireless sector, where with a penetration rate of under 50%, there is still leverage for growth. An operator offering high-speed wireless data services, such as PLDT's cellular unit Smart Communications, should be in a good position to succeed.