MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ digital edge significantly weakened compared with other economies as the Southeast Asian country continues to suffer from notoriously slow and intermittent internet services, Switzerland’s IMD business school said in a report released Tuesday.

The Philippines fell 10 notches to 56th spot out of 63 economies tracked in IMD’s World Digital Competitiveness Rankings 2018. Among 14 Asia-Pacific countries, the Philippines was at 12th place.

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According to the Switzerland-based business school, the Philippines experienced “one of the largest drops in the overall digital ranking,” mirroring the country’s freefall in the IMD’s 2018 World Competitiveness Rankings where it suffered from “the most significant drop” in Asia.

The United States, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom occupied the first to 10th places globally.

The ranking draws upon 50 selected indicators divided into three factors: knowledge, technology and future readiness.

Based on IMD’s report, the Philippines’ regulatory environment is less supportive for development of digital technologies after the country slipped to the 58th place from 51th in the technology factor.

Broken down, slow internet mainly contributed to the sharp decline, with the Philippines ranking 62nd in communications technology and 61st in internet bandwidth speed out of 63 economies covered by the report.

In terms of the nation’s preparedness to exploit and adapt to digital transformation, the Philippines retreated by nine places to 52nd from 43rd under the future readiness factor.

Meanwhile, under the knowledge factor—which measures the country’s talent to develop and adapt to new technologies—the Philippines climbed three notches to the 50th spot from last year’s 53rd finish despite a “significant decline” in quality of education.

“I think that it’s a fundamental factor in the Philippines that technology does exist. I think technology somehow would allow people to integrate digital technologies better but still people are reluctant to incorporate technology to their daily life,” IMD World Competitiveness Center Director Arturo Bris said in an interview.

“Obviously, changing people’s attitude or investing in education takes a lot of time. But in the short-term, the Philippines would have to make an improvement in investment in technology,” Bris explained, adding that the country should also improve its regulatory framework by strengthening ease of doing business and facilitating innovations in digital technologies.