The Philippines’ global rankings in internet speed significantly improved last May as compared to last year, according to Ookla’s latest report.
The Ookla Speedtest Global Index report showed the country’s fixed broadband speed now ranked 65th out of 180 countries, while ranking 77th out of 137 countries in mobile as of May this year.
Last November 2020, the country’s average download speeds for fixed broadband ranked 103rd and 110th for mobile globally.
The significant progress in ranking the past months is due to the Duterte government’s all-out support in expediting the release of local government unit (LGU) permits required to fast-track the improvement of telco infrastructure.
Out of 50 countries in Asia, the country’s internet speed now placed 17th for fixed broadband and 23rd for mobile. In Asia-Pacific, the Philippines ranked 14th for fixed broadband and 12th for mobile out of 46 countries.
In Asean, the country ranked fifth in both fixed broadband and mobile out of 10 countries.
The latest fixed broadband download speed represented an improvement of 643 percent since the Duterte administration began in July 2016.
Meanwhile, the latest mobile speed improved by 329.7 percent during the same timeframe.
Recent fast-tracking of telco infrastructure rollout is expected to continue as more LGUs comply with the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 01 s. 2020 signed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Anti-Red Tape Authority and other government agencies.
With this, competition in the local telecom industry has been tough this year.
Third major telco Dito Telecommunity Corp. is now present in over 100 cities nationwide, while Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communications Inc. have infused record high capital expenditures (capex) this year of P70 billion and P92 billion, respectively.
Fiber internet company Converge ICT Solutions Inc. is also expected to increase its capex to P20 billion this year from P19 billion last year, as it aggressively provides pure end-to-end fiber internet connection to its market.
