As I sit here enjoying a Big Mac, I have been thinking about WiFi access here in the Philippines.

Everyone knows its bad overall. Connectivity is a big challenge for the average Filipino. Although for me it seems better then it used to be.

I enjoy the benefit of a Globe postpaid plan now, but for a long time I used prepaid load like most Filipinos do. Its a definite frustration in life.

In the past few years malls across the Philippines, have been offering free WiFi but its a crap shoot at best, often down more the it seems to work. To balance load SM malls offer a free hour of WiFi and then you are cut off.

This all has me thinking about why it has been so hard to provide better wifi, at least in the malls. It would encourage more mobile payments and help the slow, slow migration away from cash.

It could also make the lines go faster.

Regardless though, it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to analyze the user data, optimize bandwidth and offer a better wifi experience, especially in the smaller lifestyle malls.

It could also be a boon to retailers who offer online promotions to cut back on the number of staff passing out promo flyers as well as the cost of the marketing materials itself.

As time passes, I fully expect that to enter mainstream but as of now WiFi in the malls here is not anywhere close to where it has the potential to be.

A simple cost/benefit exercise using available data  coupled with some usage and capacity analytics would most likely expedite that adoption.

At least thats is where I would start if I was consulting with a mall about how to both improve customer satisfaction and drive more retail profits to electronic models.

Thanks Bam for the topic idea.

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