• The results of the 2018 Census of Philippine Business and Industry (CPBI) showed that a total of 5,665 establishments in the formal sector of the economy were engaged in information and communication activities. This was 16.5 percent higher than the 4,862 recorded establishments in 2012.
• Other telecommunications activities that include provision of specialized telecommunications applications such as satellite tracking and radar station operations, provision of telephone and internet access facilities open to the public, and operation of satellite terminal stations account for 52.1 percent of the information and communication establishments in the country. This was followed by computer programming, consultancy and related activities such as designing systems software, software applications, databases, and webpages with 19.1 percent share.
• Workers engaged in information and communication activities increased by 19.5 percent from 144,770 in 2012 to 172,974 employees in 2018. Computer programming, consultancy and related activities generated the most employment accounting for more than 43.0 percent (74,497 workers) of the total national employment. Data processing, hosting and related activities; web portals had the second-most employees with 17,597 workers or 10.2 percent share. On the other hand, sound recording and music publishing activities had the least contribution to national employment with a minimal 0.3 percent share.

Figure 1. Top Information and Communication Industries by Number of

Establishments and Total Employment, Philippines: 2018

 

• One in four information and communication establishments were located in the National Capital Region (NCR) while Central and Western Visayas had 9.8 and 6.2 percent shares, respectively. Meanwhile, Cordillera Administrative Region recorded a 4.2 percent share to the total number of information and communication establishments.

• The information and communication sector spent a total of PhP 131.0 billion to compensate its 170,864 paid employees in 2018. This was a 75.7 percent increase from the PhP 74.5 billion worth of compensation expended to 142,701 workers engaged in information and communication activities in 2012.
• Firms engaged in computer programming, consultancy and related activities spent the most in the information and communication sector in terms of compensation to its employees. The industry disbursed PhP 52.4 billion to its workers in 2018. This was followed by establishments involved with wireless telecommunications activities with PhP 21.7 billion compensation and television programming and broadcasting activities with PhP 19.3 billion.

Figure 2. Top Information and Communication Industries by Average Employment per Establishment,

Philippines: 2018

 

• Establishments in CAR disbursed a total of PhP 307.7 million to information and communication employees in 2018. This led to an average annual compensation of PhP 201,404 per employee. Information and communication firms in NCR spent the most for the compensation of its employees at PhP 114.6 billion.

• Information and communication industries generated a total revenue of PhP 680.4 billion in 2018, reflecting a 46.2 percent increase from the PhP 465.3 billion-revenue of the sector in 2012.
• Majority (PhP 604.4 billion) of the total national income of information and communication establishments were from NCR. Entities from Central Visayas generated the second-most revenue in the country with PhP 29.3 billion, followed by Central Luzon with PhP 15.9 billion and Northern Mindanao with PhP 6.5 billion.
• Wireless telecommunications activities industry contributed the highest income to the total national income with 33.3 percent share or PhP 226.9 billion. Income from computer programming, consultancy and related activities came next with PhP 167.4 billion (24.6 percent) and wired telecommunications activities with PhP 105.6 billion (15.5 percent).
• Expenditures of information and communication entities reached PhP 566.3 billion in 2018, a 55.7 percent increase from 2012’s costs of PhP 363.7 billion. The amount spent for the compensation of employees only comprised 23.1 percent of the sector’s total spending. The top industry income-earners in information and communication establishments were also the main contributors to the sector’s expenses: wireless telecommunications activities spent PhP 198.3 billion (35.0 percent) and computer programming, consultancy and related activities with PhP 124.2 billion (21.9 percent). Information and communication businesses situated in NCR (PhP 511.3 billion or 90.3 percent), Central Visayas (PhP 18.4 billion or 3.2 percent), and Central Luzon (PhP 13.2 billion or 2.3 percent) were the top spenders in 2018.

Figure 3. Top Information and Communication Industries by Income per

Expense, Annual Income and Expense, Philippines: 2018

 

2018 value added of IAC industries surpasses PhP 300 million

• Value added realized by information and communication establishments in 2018 was PhP 356.3 billion. This figure increased by almost 60 percent relative to the value added recorded by the sector in 2012.
• Industry-wise, wireless telecommunications activities registered the highest value added with PhP 113.1 billion or 31.7 percent contribution to the total output of the IAC sector. This was followed by computer programming, consultancy and related activities with PhP 101.0 billion (28.3 percent) and wired telecommunications activities with PhP 61.6 billion (17.3 percent). Conversely, sound recording and music publishing activities contributed the east to the total sector production with PhP 412.2 million that translates to 0.1 percent of the total value added of information and communication sector.
• Across regions, NCR (PhP 313.4 billion), Central Visayas (PhP 21.0 billion), and Central Luzon (PhP 5.5 billion) had the most value added in 2018. CAR establishments engaged in information and communication activities reported PhP 642.9 million.

Subsidies increase by more than 200-fold

• The total subsidies received by the information and communication sector amounted to PhP 67.4 million in 2018. This was 20,399.1 percent higher than the PhP 329 thousand worth of subsidies granted by the government in 2012. Computer programming, consultancy and related activities (PhP 32.6 million), other telecommunications activities (PhP 21.5 million), satellite telecommunications activities (PhP 5.8 million), radio broadcasting (PhP 4.2 million), and motion picture, video and television programme activities (PhP 3.3 million) comprised the industries that received subsidies from the government in 2018.
• Among all regions, NCR (PhP 41.6 million), Caraga (PhP 12.4 million), Cagayan Valley (PhP 5.8 million), Central Visayas (PhP 3.2 million), Eastern Visayas (PhP 2.2 million), Ilocos Region (PhP 2.0 million), and Zamboanga Peninsula (PhP 135 thousand) were the only recipients of government grants.

• E-commerce transactions in information and communication establishments generated sales amounting to PhP 1.7 billion in 2018. This was a huge increase from the PhP 289.0 million worth of goods and services sold by IAC businesses online in 2012.

Figure 5. Top Information and Communication Industries by Sales from

E-commerce Transactions, Philippines: 2018