IF one could access the Internet over a mobile phone using WAP (wireless application protocol) technology, try to imagine how the country would be like if the Internet could be accessed from a public pay phone installed in a barangay hall, a school or an airport.

In a country where the low number of Internet users is attributed to the high cost of PCs and Internet access, the possibility of an Internet pay phone becomes a welcome development.

Picture how it could shatter the so-called "digital divide'' that exists between the "haves'' and the "have nots.'' Picture how rural folk in the far fringes of the countryside who cannot afford PCs nor Internet subscription can send and receive text messages or e-mail messages over the public Internet phone. Picture entrepreneurs and farmers transacting businesses over the Net via a public pay phone.

The first Internet pay phone ever to hit the Philippine telecommunications market made its mark at the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati. Attended by representatives of potential Internet pay phone deployers like PLDT, Bayantel, Smart, Digitel and Globe, the Internet pay phone was brought in by the Switzerland-based Landis & Gyr Communications through local partner Finacor Finance Corp., a technology financing company.

Landis & Gyr Communications claims to have demonstrated the first Internet pay phone based on the Internet Communications Protocol. The new Internet pay phone will offer low-cost long distance telephone calls, a "superior'' Internet telephone sound quality and "faster, more efficient access to information and messaging services.''

The Internet pay phone looks like a regular pay phone where one can insert a card and dial using the keypad. It's a cross between a high-end pay phone and a multimedia kiosk. With a wide range of multimedia services, this pay phone can offer Internet access where users can send e-mail and short message services (SMS) and is said to be an ideal terminal for mass market e-commerce applications, e-banking, public services, e-healthcare and Web browsing.

The phone has a touch screen slightly smaller than the regular ATM monitor where the numbers will appear. The applications available from the Internet pay phone will be predetermined by the providing telecommunications firm. The phone has a web browser for predefined sites and has ATM services which includes e-purse reloading, account history, loyalty management and balance account. With bigger screens than mobile phones, there's an option for visual and audio advertising and it can display animated services from weather forecasts to traffic updates.

Finacor chair Cyril Rocke said that the CPU of the Internet pay phone is a Pentium "clone.'' It has an open architecture and is not proprietary. Rocke said the mode of payment for the Internet pay phone could be coins, memory cards, e-purses, magnetic cards, bar code cards and contactless cards. However, he could not determine the price range and the number of minutes the users can access the Internet, saying telecom firms will be the ones to determine this detail.

"Users, for instance, can just access from three to 10 websites depending on what the telecom firms will decide,'' Rocke said. He added that sites to be chosen would be something relevant to the users and something that could generate interest among the Filipino public. He cited as likely choices Localvibe and Yehey.

"We can also have a version of an Inquirer Interactive site or a version of the ABS-CBN site. The telecoms firm will decide which content to place there. These could also be changed,'' he said.

Rocke claims that 90 percent of the Philippine population has never used a PC. The Internet pay phone, he said, could be a smart alternative.

"Currently, the country has a six million line switch capacity but if 50 percent of the Philippine population is not yet connected you couldn't blame it on a shortage of lines, but on a shortage of subscribers,'' he said.