PH internet connection 2nd slowest in Asia
December 23, 2016 at 12:00
PH internet connection 2nd slowest in Asia
The Akamai report said that out of 15 countries surveyed in Asia Pacific region during the third quarter , the Philippines ranked 14th with connection speed of 4.2 megabits per second (mbps), just a tad faster than that of India’s average connection speed of 4.1 mbps.
The US considers 4 Mbps the minimum speed required for using video-rich broadband applications while retaining basic web browsing and email.
At 4Mbps, connection will depend on traffic- how many are using the service at a given time with many cases of video streaming bunching up.
Movie buffs need speed higher than 4 to 6 Mbps which is okay only for emailing and streaming music.
Gaming will require much higher speed.
Akamai however noted that the Phiippines is prioritizing faster connectivity throughout the country after the push of the Department of Information and Communication Technology to speed up the deployment of fiber and wireless technologies nationwide.
Akamai noted that this is the first time all 15 of the surveyed Asia-Pacific countries had average connection speeds above 4 Mbps. Seven of them exceeded the 10 Mbps threshold, unchanged from the second quarter.
Among the countries whose broadband adoption declined, the Philippines had the largest quarterly drop at 13 percent while the remaining decreases were all below 3 percent .This is due to consumer dissatisfaction with the speed offered by the duopoly.
But the Akamai report showed Asia Pacific continued to lead globally in average peak connection speeds in the third quarter, with the top four global leaders all found in the region. Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea all had average peak connection speed above 100 Mbps again, with Indonesia close behind at 99.3 Mbps.
In all, 9 of the surveyed countries/regions saw average peak speeds above 50 Mbps, down from 10 in the second quarter.
Quarterly changes were mixed and modest in the third quarter, with nine countries seeing speeds increase and six seeing them decrease.
Gains ranged between 1.3 percent in Malaysia and 8.1 percent in Indonesia, while declines varied from 0.1 percent in the Philippines to 8.2 percent in Australia.
In the third quarter, South Korea once again led the Asia Pacific region in 4 Mbps broadband adoption, with 97 percent. Quarterly changes were again mixed, with six countries seeing gains in adoption, eight countries seeing declines, and one country—Japan—remaining unchanged.
Vietnam and India enjoyed the strongest growth in the region, as adoption levels rose 23 percent and 19 percent respectively, while the remaining gaining countries posted single-digit increases ranging from 3 percent in Australia to 5.4 percent in China.
According to telecommunications research firm Point Topic, the number of broadband subscribers worldwide will grow to exceed 1 billion by 2020, with the bulk of the growth coming from South and East Asia, in areas where broadband access currently lags the rest of the more developed world. The third quarter saw some announcements supporting this trend.
Meanwhile, giant telecom firm PLDT had said that it has deployed fiber network to over 2.5 million homes from as far north as Ilocos Norte to southern Philippines in South Cotabato provinces last month .
As a result PLDT now has over 140,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables, the most extensive fiber infrastructure in the country. PLDT has invested P300 billion or $6 billion over the last 10 years to roll-out the country’s most expansive network infrastructure.
While Globe Telecom Inc. is deploying fiber optic cables in 20,000 barangays all over the country to provide faster and more reliable internet access in about 2 million homes nationwide.
The new administration has warned the two giant telecom firm that if they will not improved the internet speed and reduce the cost , the government will open up the country to foreign players buy revising the 60-40 foreign ownership limit in telco business .
