CALAMBA CITY, Laguna – More households and individuals in Calabarzon are gaining access to digital technologies, reflecting the region’s growing shift toward online connectivity and electronic transactions, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Charity Bautista, officer in charge of the Statistical Operations and Coordination Division, PSA 4-A, bared during the 2024 National Information and Communications Technology Household Survey (NICTHS) forum on Monday that 95.8 percent of mobile phone users in the region owned smartphones, higher than the national average of 93 percent and up from 81.5 percent in 2019.

Use of basic cellular phones dropped to 4.7 percent from 20.9 percent.

Internet use also expanded significantly, with 53.2 percent of households reporting home connections in 2024, compared to 24.2 percent in 2019. Individual internet users rose to 71.4 percent, more than double the 33.1 percent recorded in 2019.

Electronic or mobile money account holders likewise grew sharply from 5.1 percent in 2019 to 43.6 percent in 2024, while online buying and selling accounts increased from 7.9 percent to 38.3 percent.

“About one in every five internet users sold goods or services to earn money,” PSA 4-A Statistical Specialist II Jan Irvin Mark A. Sison said during the forum.

He added that more than half of internet users considered their mobile devices as the most effective source of information on disaster preparedness.

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