PH’s economic competitiveness: is slow Internet a factor?

IT seems that slow internet service affected the steep drop in the country’s economic competitiveness, this according to a member of congress, Rep. Luis Campos Jr.

“There’s no question our overall economic efficiency has been weighed down by inadequate yet costly Internet connectivity,” Campos said, citing the country’s lackluster Internet connectivity, which has been rated the slowest in Asia.

The Makati city representative was reacting to the Philippines’ nine-notch drop to the 50th spot out of 63 economies in the 2018 World Competitiveness Yearbook rankings of the International Institute for Management Development.

“If our average Internet connection speed is slower compared to other countries, and yet we have to pay a higher price for it, then that makes our economy somewhat less competitive,” Campos, a deputy minority leader, said.

Poor connectivity adversely affects businesses, consumers and government agencies that have become increasingly reliant on the Internet to perform daily transactions, the lawmaker said.

Campos is counting on the entry of new players to drive real competition in the supply of faster Internet connection speeds at lower prices.

Malacañang has hinted that President Duterte is likely to declare the liberalization of the telecommunications sector and announce the entry of new players when he delivers his State of the Nation Address on July 23.

Campos has been batting for the reclassification of Internet access as a “basic telecommunications service” so that regulators may compel suppliers to provide rising connection speeds under pain of stiff punitive fines.

Under House Bill 5337, Campos wants the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) empowered to regulate both the quality and the cost of Internet connection by tagging it a basic service.

At present, the 23-yearold Philippine Public Telecommunications Policy Law treats Internet access as a “value-added service” rather than a basic service. Thus, suppliers are relatively free to provide the service on their own terms.

The Philippines’ 5.5 Mbps average Internet connection speed is the slowest among 15 Asia Pacific countries, according to Akamai Technologies Inc.’s State of the Internet Connectivity Report.

Worldwide, South Korea has the fastest average connection speed at 28.6 Mbps, while Paraguay has the slowest at 1.4 Mbps.

Mbps is short for megabits per second—a measure of network transmission or data transfer speed. A megabit is equal to one million bits.