Better, faster internet to spur growth of esports

Internet speeds and ping in the Philippines are experiencing a spurt.

This is welcome news for the country as it tries to make a name for itself in the field of electronic sports or esports, which merits faster-than-average internet speed to excel in the emerging sport and is being pushed to be a demonstration sport in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The increased and improved internet speed in the country make the Philippines not just esports ready, but it could also measure up against the more established and experienced esports competitors in the world.

Based on the Speedtest Global Index Report by internet testing and analysis website Ookla released last April, the Philippines is now tagged as the most improved country in Southeast Asia.

“Internet connection in the country now clocks at a staggering five times faster when it comes to fixed broadband download speeds compared to 2014. This means that the country can no longer be considered a laggard in terms of internet connection speed,” said Globe Telecom, in a statement.

A recent infographic posted on the tech website Yugatech that used the latest Ookla data, said that fixed broadband download speed in the country escalated exponentially by 403 percent, or about 17.62 megabits per second (Mbps) by April 2018. This is a far cry from the excruciatingly slow 3.5 Mbps back in 2014.

The next most improved country, the same report said, is Malaysia, with a 391 percent step-up in terms of internet connectivity. For mobile, meanwhile, average download speed in the Philippines continued its ascending swing from May 2017 to April this year, citing data from OpenSignal, the trusted global standard when it comes to mobile experience.

With these latest improvements in the country’s internet capability, Globe Telecom reiterated that it is fully committed to improve internet speed and elevate the overall quality of experience of internet services.

Furthermore, these developments also put the country in a much better position to compete in another arena, which is esports.

Globe is going full speed to develop esports in the Philippines, having inked partnerships with League of Legends developer, Riot; Garena, the publisher of Arena of Valor and Philippine publisher of League of Legends; and premiere esports events organizer, Mineski. With improved speeds, ping and latency, plus being a producer of esports content, it presents a vast opportunity for Globe to nurture the industry. /