PLDT-Smart eyes minimum average broadband speed of 30 Mbps by 2021

PLDT-Smart is eyeing to provide a minimum average broadband speed of 30 Mbps by 2021, PLDT senior vice president Mar Tamayo said Thursday.

Tamayo made the announcement during a briefing at the House on the state of telecommunications and internet services in the Philippines.

“Uunahin po muna ang Metro Manila at key cities para kaya natin i-maintain, then we go outward, over to the rest of the population in the next couple of years,” he told lawmakers.

Tamayo said that PLDT-Smart is committed to expanding its 5G and LTE services.

According to the PLDT official, the PLDT-Smart download speed improved by 78.1% in the first quarter of this year from the fourth quarter of 2017.

The 4G availability, on the other hand, has improved by 27.8 points at 86.9% in the second quarter this year compared with fourth quarter of 2017.

“This takes time, a lot of investment, pero sinimulan na po namin ito,” Tamayo added.

At present, Tamayo said that PLDT-Smart’s minimum average broadband speed is 20 Mbps.

Tamayo also said PLDT-Smart aims to shift 100% to fiber connection by mid-2022, and sought the help of the National Telecommunications Communications—the state-run regulatory agency—in requiring consumers to shift to fiber and fiber-like services.

“May mga ayaw pa rin po umalis as legacy DSL copper subscribers, kaya hinihiling rin po namin ang tulong ng NTC to convince them to move to a new technology kasi malayong malayo po ang speed [difference],” Tamayo said.

“Pag magkasama po kasi [iyong Fiber at DSL copper na tine-test], nadi-dilute po ang speed [average],” Tamayo added.

Last month, Secretary Gregorio Honasan of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) apologized over his comments that the internet speed in the country, which ranges from 3 to 7 Mbps, is not so bad, saying that there is much to be improved.

“I apologize. I should have really said, it is not yet that good, but we are trying to improve it,” Honasan said during the deliberations on the proposed P7.4-billion budget of the DICT for 2021 before the Senate Finance Committee.

“Based on global surveys, we are not doing that good yet, but we are not doing that bad. We are somewhere in the middle,” Honasan added. — BM, GMA News