The Philippines has jumped 14 notches in the global index of mobile internet connection speeds but remains one of the laggards among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said on Thursday.
Citing the latest figures from The Speedtest Global Index that are updated monthly, Campos said the Philippines ranked No. 96 worldwide in December, with an average mobile internet speed of 22.50 megabits per second (Mbps).
In November, the Philippines’ 18.49 Mbps average mobile internet speed ranked it No. 110 in a field of 139 countries, according to Campos.
“Our mobile Internet speed is improving, but it is clearly improving at a snail’s pace,” Campos said.
“We are counting on further political pressure from Malacañang, coupled with DITO Telecommunity Corp.’s launch of commercial operations this March, to help drive internet speeds faster in the months ahead,” Campos said.
Telecommunications companies were due to submit Wednesday, January 20, their rollout plans on how to improve their internet speeds as ordered by regulators.
The submissions are in accordance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to boost internet services amid increased traffic due to work-from-home arrangements and online classes, according to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
Campos is author House Bill 7479, which seeks to empower the NTC so that it can set compulsory deadlines for industry players to deliver faster internet speeds under 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.
Among ASEAN members, the Philippines advanced from second to third slowest, with only Cambodia and Indonesia having more sluggish mobile internet speeds at 19.22 Mbps and 17.26 Mbps, respectively.
Cambodia and Indonesia ranked No. 113 and No. 121 worldwide, respectively.
Thailand had the biggest surge in mobile internet speed – from 42.80 Mbps in November to 51.75 Mbps in December.
As a result, Thailand soared to No. 33 worldwide from No. 44 and now has the second fastest mobile internet speed in ASEAN, next only to Singapore, which ranked No. 21 with 66.82 Mbps.
Worldwide, Qatar with 178.01 Mbps vaulted two notches to emerge No. 1, dislodging the United Arab Emirates, with 177.52 Mbps, from the top spot and reducing previous second placer South Korea to No. 3, with 169.03 Mbps.
FIXED BROADBAND
In the fixed broadband, Campos said the Philippines’ average speed also improved slightly from 28.69 Mbps to 31.44 Mbps, enabling the country to move up three notches to No. 100 worldwide.
Thailand with 308.35 Mbps leaped two notches and is now No.1 worldwide in fixed broadband speed, overtaking Singapore’s 245.31 Mbps and Hong Kong SAR’s 226.80 Mbps.
The Speedtest Global Index analyzes web access performance metrics around the world based on millions of tests taken by real people using the internet.
