PH internet speed improves
The country’s internet speed has improved considerably, lifting the country’s worldwide ranking by 8 notches, according to the March report of Ookla Speedtest Global Index.
The firm said that the country’s fixed broadband average download speed improved by 11 notches.
The 7.79 Mbps (mega bits per second) increase — from 38.46 in February to 46.25 Mbps in March 2021– represents a monthly increase of 20.25% and a 484.70% increase from the country’s download speed of 7.91 Mbps in July 2016.
The Philippines’ fixed broadband speed now ranked 81st among 177 countries. The country’s improvement in rank in March was the 2nd best globally next to Oman’s.
Mobile network overall performance slightly dipped as the country yielded an average download speed of 25.43Mbps from 26.24 Mbps last month.
The current mobile network performance represents an increase of 241.80% from its speed of 7.44 Mbps in July 2016, while the average mobile download speed of 24.72 Mbps from January to March this year also represents a 29.22% improvement from the 19.13Mbps posted in October to December 2020.
Massive improvements in mobile speeds in previous months were also noted when the Philippines’ global rank in December 2020 went up 14 notches and up by another 10 notches in January 2021.
Out of 140 countries, the country’s mobile speed was at 86th spot in January 2021 from 111th in the same period in 2020, outpacing Russia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
The country’s mobile speed is now ranked 86th among 140 countries tested.
In Asia, the marked improvement in internet speed placed the country 22nd for fixed broadband and 27th for mobile out of 50 countries. In Asia-Pacific, the Philippines ranks 16th for fixed broadband and 15th for mobile out of 46 countries.
The country now ranks 5th for fixed broadband and 7th for mobile out of 10 ASEAN countries.
The improvement in the country’s internet speed comes after the President’s directive last year on the need to expedite the facilitation of LGU permits in relation to building cellular towers. Since then, there has been a significant increase in the issuance of permits from July 2020 to March 2021.
Early this month, DITO Telecommunity launched commercially in key areas in the Visayas and Mindanao. The country’s third major telco targets its operations to be felt in Metro Manila by mid-2021.
Further improvement in internet speed is expected as telco market competition intensifies with DITO’s entry.