The April 2021 Ookla Speedtest Global Index report showed a 6.62% and a 14.51% monthly improvement in the Philippines’ fixed broadband and mobile average download speeds respectively.
The increase in speeds represents an impressive 23-notch improvement for fixed broadband and a 26-notch improvement for mobile in global rankings since November 2020.
Fixed broadband speed increased from 46.25Mbps in March to 49.31Mbps in April 2021, while mobile speed yielded an average download speed of 29.12Mbps from 25.43Mbps the month before.
Fixed broadband speed has improved by as much as 523.38% since the Duterte administration began in July 2016. Mobile internet speed, meanwhile, improved by 291.40% during the same period.
Out of 176 countries tested, Philippine fixed broadband speed ranked 80th , while ranking 84th out of 134 countries in mobile.
Out of 50 countries in Asia, the country’s internet speed placed 21st for fixed broadband and 26th for mobile. In Asia-Pacific, the Philippines ranked 16th for fixed broadband and 13th for mobile out of 46 countries.
In ASEAN, the country ranked 5th in fixed broadband and 6th in mobile out of 10 countries.
The improvement in the country’s internet speed comes after the President’s directive last July 2020 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 April 2021.
With the entry of third major telco player, DITO Telecommunity, internet speed is expected to further improve as market competition intensifies.
DITO recently launched commercial operations in the National Capital Region and is now present in 100 cities all over the country. The new player targets to have at least two million subscribers by yearend.