Philippines’ global internet speed rankings climb further in June

The Philippines rose a few notches in a global ranking of mobile and fixed broadband internet speeds, according to the latest figures released by global speed monitoring firm Speedtest by Ookla.

In the June 2021 Ookla Speedtest Global Index report, the country climbed two spots to 75th in terms of mobile internet speed from 77th in May out of 137 countries included in the list.

Ookla figures show that the Philippines’ average mobile internet download speed reached 32.84 megabits per second (Mbps), an increase of 0.86 from the recorded 31.98 Mbps in May.

Mobile upload speed also slightly improved to 8.92 Mbps from 8.74 Mbps in the prior month.

In terms of fixed broadband, the Philippines climbed three spots to 62 from 65th out of 181 countries.

The country’s average fixed broadband download speed stood at 66.55 Mbps, a 6.82 increase from 59.73 Mbps speed recorded in May.

Fixed broadband upload speed, likewise, rose to 66.86 Mbps from 57.40 Mbps in the prior month.

The Ookla Speedtest Global Index considers countries with at least 300 unique user results for mobile or fixed broadband to be ranked in either category.

“The continuous upward trend in PH Internet speeds is a welcome development in our efforts to prepare for full participation in the global digital economy,” Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said in a statement.

The DICT chief said the upward trend gained traction after President Rodrigo Duterte issued directives last July 2020 challenging telcos to shape up and called on government agencies to provide assistance to telcos by streamlining the tower permitting process.

Last July 1, 2021, the DICT and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) also revised and expanded Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No 001, s. 2021 to harmonize the provisions of the policy and Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.

The DICT said the JMC has been instrumental in reducing procedural delays in securing the necessary permits and documentary requirements in the construction of common towers.

According to ARTA, the policy shortened the timeline to the target period of 16 days compared to the original 214 days. It also brought down permits from 30 to eight and documentary requirements from 86 to 35.

“For the rest of 2021 and in the succeeding years, your DICT shall continue to support the industries for telecommunications and information services to ensure that our Internet speed rankings will continue its upward climb,” Honasan said.—AOL, GMA News