PHL tops Asia Pacific in mobile Internet speed: Akamai report
THE PHILIPPINES’ mobile Internet speed ranked first in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Akamai Technologies’ Third Quarter State of the Internet Report, which at the same time showed the country’s average Internet speed continued to lag its neighbors.
In the report released on Wednesday, Akamai said the Philippines’ average mobile Internet speed reached 13.9 megabits per second ( Mbps), a measure of data transfer speed, in the July to August period. This is an improvement from the 8.5 Mbps recorded in the second quarter, which saw the Philippines rank 6th in Asia Pacific.
For the July to August period, the country’s mobile Internet speed , followed by Australia (12.8 Mbps), Japan (11.6 Mbps), South Korea (11.2 Mbps) and New Zealand (10.8 Mbps), while Vietnam was the lowest in the tier with 3.4 Mbps.
The boost in mobile Internet speeds in the Philippines may be attributed to Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, Inc.’s activation of long-term evolution ( LTE) cell sites using the 700 megahertz (700 MHz) spectrum during starting June.
On May 30, Smart’s parent PLDT, Inc. and Globe announced their joint acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telecommunications business for P69.1 billion. Under the deal, they obtained the coveted 700-MHz spectrum, which is able to penetrate walls and useful for providing in- building coverage.
The Akamai report showed globally, Switzerland had the fastest mobile Internet with 30 Mbps, while Venezuela recorded the slowest with 2.2 Mbps.
However, in terms of average Internet connection speed, the Philippines performed dismally, landing on the second to the last spot among Asia- Pacific economies in most metrics measured by Akamai during the period.
The Philippines recorded a 4.2 Mbps average connection speed in the July to August period, lower by 2.8% compared to the previous quarter and only higher than India with 4.1 Mbps — the slowest recorded among the 15 economies measured in the region.
Globally, South Korea recorded the fastest average connection speed with 26.3 Mbps, while Manila ranked 103rd.
“In the third quarter of 2016, South Korea was again the top country/region in the world for the average connection speed metric, despite a 2.5% quarter-over-quarter drop in average connection speeds that narrowed the gap between it and lowest-ranked India from 23 Mbps to 22 Mbps. Like the second quarter, the third quarter saw quarterly gains across 11 of the 15 surveyed Asia-Pacific countries/ regions, ranging from 3.4% in Hong Kong to 22% in Vietnam,” the Akamai report read.
“Philippines — a nation with one of the lowest broadband speeds and adoption rates in the region — looks to be prioritizing faster connectivity throughout the country, including the announcement of a new Department of Information and Communication Technology responsible for planning the deployment of ber and wireless technologies nationwide,” it added.
Akamai said in its latest report that the Philippines’ average peak connection speed was at 32.8 Mbps, also the second lowest in the region, but ahead of India with 27 Mbps. Singapore topped this metric with 162 Mbps.