DAVAO CITY – Netizens complained of slow internet speed in the country, a criticism corroborated by a report released by an
internet broadband testing company which ranked Philippines as the 158th in 190 countries that have the slowest internet speed in
Southeast Asian Region.
Based on the global internet speed ranking released by Net Index (www.netindex.com), the Philippines has achieved only an average speed of 3.6 Megabits per second (Mbps) which was far from 12.4 Mbps— the average internet speed in the ASEAN region.
Net Index is managed by Oakla, the global leader in broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic applications.
Other countries who have less than 10 Mbps internet speed were Laos (4.0 Mbps), Indonesia (4.1 Mbps), Myanmar and Brunei (4.9 Mbps), Malaysia (5.5 Mbps) and Cambodia (5.7 Mbps).
Leading among the ASEAN countries that has the fastest internet speed iwas Singapore with 61.0 Mbps followed by Japan (41.7 Mbps), USA (22.3 Mbps), China (18.3 Mbps), Thailand (17.7 Mbps), and Vietnam (13.1 Mbps).
The average global internet speed is 17.5 Mbps, according to Net Index.
Reacting on the report, netizens were quick to blame in what they described as the “control and monopoly” of some businessmen and even the lack of sufficient infrastructure in telecommunication industries.
“The slow internet speed is just another symptom of having oligarchies in the country’s telecommunications industry. Mainstream media won’t delve any deeper into the issue because their owners are also stakeholders in the internet and telecom firms,” netizen Micky Hiss said.
Marc Lorenzo, a private school teacher and active blogger, told Davao Today, that slow internet speed can also be attributed to the
poor telecommunication infrastructure in the country.
“The government has insufficient budget to improve the telecommunication infrastructures. Telecommunication companies are
very greedy and what subscribers get in return are poor internet services,” Lorenzo said.
College student Ryan Illustre said: “(I)nternet speed in the Philippines is slow due to monopoly because there is no
competition with other foreign company/investors,” adding that “Business oligarchs are controlling the industry ensuring its 99%
maximum profits while netizens are agonizing due to its poor speed performance and services.”
A recent United Nations (UN) report showed that Filipinos may boast of being in the world’s social network hub, but access to the Internet remains low in the Philippines compared to other countries.
Of the total Filipino Internet users, 75 percent accessed social networks in 2011, the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development said in its report dubbed the “State of Broadband 2012.”
The Philippines also topped the global average of 60 percent social network penetration, even if only 29 percent of Filipinos are able to use the Internet as of 2011.
The report added that the country ranked 100th out of 177 in terms of internet access either through fixed or mobile connections.
As of last year, there was an average of 1.9 fixed Internet connections per 100 people in the Philippines.
In the Philippines, mobile broadband adoption was found to contribute an annual 0.32 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). (davaotoday.com)
