Solon lauds improvement in PH internet speed

A lawmaker at the House of Representatives on Friday said the Philippines’ internet speed in terms of mobile broadband has slightly improved, overtaking both Malaysia and Myanmar for the first time in a global speed test.

Citing the January Speedtest Global Index, Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said the Philippines’ mobile internet speed went up from 22.50 to 25.77 megabits per second (Mbps), ranking up by 10 notches from 96th to 86th in the worldwide rankings.

“There’s no question the political pressure brought to bear on telecommunications companies is starting to bear fruit,” Campos said.

Campos noted that President Rodrigo Duterte, in his 5th State of the Nation Address, has threatened to seize the assets of telecommunications firms if they failed to improve their services.

“Both PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. are clearly also gearing up their networks for new competition, ahead of DITO Telecommunity Corp.’s launch of new mobile internet services in a couple of weeks,” Campos said.

Based on the latest global index, the Philippines now ranks 6th in mobile internet speed among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The Philippines surged on top of Myanmar (25.21 Mbps, 88th worldwide) and Malaysia (23.74 Mbps, 94th), and stayed ahead of Cambodia (19.98 Mbps, 106th) and Indonesia (17.33 Mbps, 121st).

The five Asean members with faster mobile internet speeds than the Philippines are Singapore (66.44 Mbps, 22nd worldwide); Thailand (50.00 Mbps, 36th); Brunei (36.75 Mbps, 56th); Vietnam (34.68 Mbps, 62nd); and Laos (27.55 Mbps, 80th).

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (183.03 Mbps, 1st); South Korea (171.26 Mbps, 2nd); and Qatar (170.65 Mbps, 3rd) have the swiftest mobile internet speeds in the world.

As for fixed broadband speed, the Philippines improved slightly from 31.44 to 32.73 Mbps. The country remains 100th worldwide and sixth in Asean.

Campos pushed for the passage of a measure seeking to empower the National Telecommunications Commission so that it can set compulsory deadlines for industry players to deliver faster internet speeds under the pain of harsh regulatory fines.

The bill also seeks to tag high-speed internet as a basic telecommunications service to which every Filipino enjoys a right of access, rather than a value-added service (VAS).

At present, because internet connection is classified as a VAS, telecommunications firms are relatively free to set the terms of the service.