Telcos overall speeds have gone up

MOBILE speeds for the country’s two telecommunications companies are improving, an independent global mobile analytics company said.

Based on the overall speeds of Globe Telecommunications and Smart Communications during two test periods—March to May 2017 and February to April this year—

percent while Smart’s overall speed almost doubled in our measurements,” OpenSignal said on its website’s Insights section.

Overall mobile speeds in the Philippines, according to the latest report of OpenSignal.

OpenSignal used overall speed as a measure to track improvements because “it factors in 4G download

the level of access consumers have to each type of network,” said the post entitled “A look at the Philippines’ phenomenal growth in overall download speed.”

“Overall speed is also a useful means of tracking the typical mobile data experience, as it measures the day-to-day speeds consumers actually receive,” it added.

The good news is those everyday mobile speeds are only improving for both local operators. The phenomenal increase in their speeds owed to both companies’ expansion of their LTE services, OpenSignal said.

“Their 4G availability scores all increased considerably, which means that 4G smartphone owners were able to latch onto faster LTE connections more often,” OpenSignal said.

In its March 2017 report, OpenSignal said that Smart’s 4G availability was just at 40 percent while Globe’s was 55 percent. But by March the year after, Smart’s availability score had increased to 60 percent and Globe’s had increased to 67 percent.

As indicated by the chart, which was also featured on the blog post, Smart’s speeds began to accelerate after September.

“Two things happened here, according to our data: 1) Smart began to close the once huge gap between itself and Globe in 4G availability, and 2) its 4G speeds began increasing at a faster rate,” the blog post said. “Then right after our last Philippines report was published, the separation between Smart and Globe in overall speed suddenly started getting wider.”

“Our results show Smart’s 4G speeds began growing much faster and its 4G availability continued to tick upwards while Globe’s remained relatively static,” OpenSignal said.