Updated (6:26 p.m.)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ fixed broadband speed ranked 29th in Asia and 21st in Asia-Pacific in February 2019, a global index showed.

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According to OOKLA’s Speedtest Global Index, the fixed broadband internet speeds in the country improved “significantly” from 7.91 Megabits per second (Mbps) in July 2016 to 19.28 Mbps in February 2019, a 143.74% improvement in two and a half years.

Internet speed for mobile broadband also improved by 94.35% from 7.44 Mbps in July 2016 to 14.46Mbps in February 2019.

The improvement ranked the Philippines 33rd in Asia and 23rd in Asia-Pacific in mobile broadband internet speed.

The index noted that the country’s internet speed is faster than some of its neighboring countries in the Asean region such as Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Myanmar.

The Philippines leads the world on average time spent daily using the internet via any device at 10 hours and two minutes, according to the Digital 2019 report.

Eliseo Rio Jr., Acting secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), welcomed the improvements and added that telecommunications companies have pledged to provide better services to the public.

“Well, the incumbent telcos have to improve their services because the new major telco player has committed 27 Mbps Internet speed in their first year of operation and 55 Mbps speed in the succeeding years, with a performance bond to back up their commitment,” Rio said.

“Globe and Smart/PLDT have put up one of their biggest Capex (capital expenditures) in their more than two decades of operation to prepare for the competition coming from the third telco,” he added.

Further improvements

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The country’s internet speed is expected to improve further and become more affordable with the entrance of a third major telco player.

In November 2018, Mislatel Consortium was named the country’s third telco after emerging as the sole qualifying bidder in the government’s telco project after its two rivals were disqualified.

Currently, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is still awaiting the approval of Congress for Mislatel’s sale and transfer.

The DICT and the NTC are also seeking to build 50,000 common towers in the next seven years to improve internet signals in the country. /ee

READ: DICT, telcos identify 1,000 locations for common tower project

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