Duterte Admin’s National Broadband Plan to Boost Fixed-line Internet Service, Penetration

The country’s fixed-line broadband speed and penetration is expected to further improve once the national broadband plan is implemented.

National Telecommunications Commission Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios made this comment after Akamai, a leading content delivery network services provider for media and software delivery and cloud security solution, noted in its third quarter survey that the Philippines had registered marked improvements in terms of connectivity.

Based on Akamai’s Q3 report, the country’s average connection speed (IPv4) for mobile internet was now ranked first in the Asia Pacific region, registering an average speed of 13.9 Mbps, up from 8.5 Mbps in the second quarter.

On the table presented in the study, the Philippines’ average mobile speed of 13.9Mbps came in fastest in the Asia Pacific cluster, topping the speeds of Australia (12.8Mbps), Japan (11.6Mbps), South Korea (11.2Mbps), Indonesia (10.9Mbps), New Zealand (10.8Mbps), Taiwan (9.4Mbps), China (8.9Mbps), Singapore (8.5Mbps), Hong Kong (6.1Mbps), Thailand (6.1Mbps), Sri Lanka (5.4Mbps), India (3.5Mbps), and Vietnam (3.4Mbps).

The report also cited an improvement on the “above 10 Mbps broadband adoption” category, of which the Philippines adoption rate is now at 5.4 percent, representing a growth rate for the country of 9.1 percent QoQ and 517 percent YoY.

The Philippines also showed an improvement in the “15 mbps broadband adoption” category, of which the country is now at 2.4 percent adoption, or an improvement 11 percent QoQ and 645 percent YoY.

According to Cabarios, the significant improvement in mobile internet speed may be attributed to the recent activation by Globe and Smart of Long Term Evolution (LTE) cell sites, making use of the 700 MHz spectrum.

He added that once the Department of Information and Communications Techonology (DICT) has finalized the national broaband plan, it will give a boost to fixed-line internet speed and improve coverage across the country. (PNA) FPV/ABP/MEC