The 2021 Financial Inclusion Survey (FIS) carried out by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed that the proportion of adults with bank accounts in the Philippines has risen from 29% in 2019 to approximately 56% in 2021, marking the most significant two-year growth since the survey began in 2015. The BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap aims to increase the number of banked Filipino adults to 70% by 2023 while also boosting the proportion of digital payments in total retail transactions to 50% by the same year.
Despite this progress, financial inclusion remains a challenge in the Philippines. Many individuals, particularly those residing in remote and underserved regions, still lack access to financial services such as loans, savings accounts, and insurance. Furthermore, the inadequate connectivity in these areas presents an additional hurdle for financial institutions looking to reach these communities.
This lack of financial access has far-reaching consequences for the country’s economy, impeding growth and development. Financial inclusion is crucial in empowering individuals and businesses to engage in the formal economy, obtain credit and insurance, and invest in their future.
Connecting the Unconnected: How Kacific Satellite Connectivity is Empowering Rural Banking in the Philippines
Kacific has made a significant change in rural banking in the Philippines by utilizing satellite internet technology to address the challenge of financial inclusion. Kacific’s reliable, accessible and affordable internet service has made it possible for financial institutions to offer their services to unreachable communities that were excluded from the formal financial system.
Kacific’s Ka-band technology provides higher throughput deployed on smaller 1.2-meter antennas or terminal kits, which can be quickly and easily installed, resulting in improved internet performance with higher download and upload speeds. Kacific’s first Ka-band High-throughput Satellite, Kacific1, was launched in 2019 as a geostationary satellite. It has concentrated spot beams covering all remote areas of the Philippines, including Batanes, Palawan, and Sulu, with high power resulting in availabilities between 99.5% and 99.9%.
Additionally, Kacific has established a local teleport in Subic Bay with an additional site in Clark to serve as a backup site during bad weather conditions, minimizing the impact of rain fade and ensuring uninterrupted connectivity. It also employs modern technologies such as Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM), signal pre-distortion, and uplink power control to enhance the throughput and overall availability, resulting in an improved quality of service and enhanced user experience.
Kacific’s satellite internet service has a significant impact on the Rural Bank of Cuyo in Palawan, thanks to the support of the local Internet Service Provider (ISP) Bambunet. With reliable and affordable satellite internet, the bank can now offer financial services to previously unreachable rural unserved and underserved communities, helping them to credit and access other financial services crucial for business growth and development.
“Before we used the Bambunet powered by Kacific internet, we used to go to a remote location in the area like Aguado and Tocadan, where one wants to go to find a better internet connection,” Rizza Eleazar, manager of Rural Bank of Cuyo, said.
“We chose Bambunet powered by Kacific because it’s affordable with lower maintenance service. Now, we can upload and download files in seconds. We can join a webinar without interruption, and it’s quite refreshing. It’s something new for us that we can do in the comfort of our office,” she added.
Bambunet offers unlimited plans starting at P5,940 in the Philippines. Terminals are offered for a one-time terminal fee of P34,000 or P52,000, depending on the size of the plan. In addition, a one-time installation fee of P10,000 is charged by distributors to install the terminal kit in a specific area.
Seamless Banking Operations: The Crucial Role of Satellite Broadband in Ensuring Uninterrupted Connectivity for Financial Institutions
In the event of natural disasters in the Philippines, traditional communication networks such as phone lines, cell towers, and fibre-optic infrastructure can be severely disrupted, impacting essential services such as banking. However, satellite broadband provides a reliable solution to maintain connectivity in affected communities.
Kacific’s Enterprise Backup is a cost-effective solution ensuring businesses can remain operational and secure, even without terrestrial and mobile broadband connectivity. Financial institutions can easily access Kacific’s broadband service as a backup service in case of fibre cuts or cable downtime, providing a fail-safe insurance plan for primary connectivity. This backup solution ensures that the bank remains fully operational at all times, with ATM withdrawals and POS systems available 99% of the time, even during disasters, prioritizing continuity.
Kacific’s satellite internet technology offers a solution to address the challenge of financial inclusion by providing reliable and affordable internet connectivity in even the most remote areas of the Philippines. This enables financial and microfinance institutions to expand their reach to previously excluded communities and offer their services to all Filipinos, regardless of location. Kacific’s impact in achieving the goal of financial inclusion is undeniable, making it an essential tool for promoting economic growth and development in the country.
Join the growing number of rural banks that are leveraging satellite internet to enable their services and accelerate financial inclusion within their communities. Contact Bambunet powered by Pipol Broadband at www.bambunet.com or call (0998) 555 3243.
For more information on Kacific’s satellite technology, visit www.kacific.com or contact sales@kacific.com.Are you interested in helping communities and connecting them to satellite internet? Apply to be a Kacific Authorized Distributor today, visit https://kacific.com/distributor-network to know more.
