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The country’s two big telcos were among the world’s most improved 4G availability internet providers despite still slow internet speeds compared to other countries.
Based in the UK Opensignal Ltd. list Smart communications and Telecommunication globe in the list of the top 30 mobile network operators in the world that improved their services in terms of 4G internet connections and video experience.
The report was based on mobile network experience between the first six months of 2019 and the first half of 2020. It has four critical measures: video experience, download speed experience, upload speed experience, and 4G availability.
The average proportion of users using PLDT’s Smart Wireless Arm 4G grew by 17.9% and Globe’s scores for video experience increased by 32.7% and for download speed by 24.5% .
Opensignal described these scores as “comfortably above the world average.”
Both telecommunications providers welcomed this recognition of their efforts and assured their subscribers that they would continue to improve their services.
Alfredo Panlilio, Smart President and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Revenue Officer of PLDT, said they expected to match or exceed the internet capabilities of Vietnam and Thailand.
“As the largest and only fully integrated telecommunications company in the country, we will continue to invest in improving our network and services, and we will benchmark our performance against countries such as Vietnam and Thailand to improve it. I think all Filipinos deserve that kind of service, ”said Panlilio.
Gil GenioGlobe’s chief information and technology officer, also said the public should expect more “noticeable” improvements from them.
“Expect more of these remarkable improvements as we continue our aggressive efforts to upgrade the network for better connectivity and service,” said Genio.
Submarine cables
Since last March, there has been an increase in demand for a faster and better internet connection, as Filipinos turned to digital platforms in their attempts to cope with harsh blocks and the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.
The companies used different schemes of remote work or from home for their workers. Schools of all levels also tried to adapt to distance learning, which mostly involves online classes, as face-to-face teaching is still prohibited.
In August, an Ookla SpeedTest showed that the Philippines didn’t even make it to the top 10 or 20 countries in terms of global average broadband speeds.
READ: Honasan says that Internet connectivity in the Philippines “is not that bad.” This is what the speed test says.
The country is only 106th in terms of the global average for fixed broadband speeds at just 25.34 Mbps (megabit per second) and slower for mobile devices at just 16.44 Mbps, placing the Philippines 119th.
Political setbacks aside, some Reddit users commented that the lack of submarine cable systems that supposedly support bandwidth capacity in the country could be one of the main causes of poor connectivity.
A submarine cable or a submarine cable is a complex system of cables installed underwater or underground that power the global Internet. So these cables carry all the world’s tweets, posts, emails, and other online content.
A Reddit user cited an interactive map called Submarine Cable Map showing the thousands of submarine cable systems.
On the map, it can be seen that the Philippines has fewer cable landing stations compared to its neighbors.
Submarine Cable Networks said there are 10 international submarine cable systems landing at nine cable stations in different parts of the Philippines.
Last June, PLDT announced its incorporation to the Asia direct consortium connecting the Philippines, China (Hong Kong and Guangdong province), Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam through a 9,400-kilometer submarine cable.
This will support your move to digital services like 5G, the “Internet of Things” and artificial intelligence.
PLDT has also previously partnered with Asian American, one of its international cable systems. It is a long fiber optic cable network that connects the Philippines with the US.
Last Wednesday, the company informed the public about upcoming emergency maintenance activities for five days starting Friday, September 25. She assured her millions of subscribers that measures are in place to minimize the impact of the activity.
READ: PLDT will perform an ’emergency’ maintenance on Internet services for 5 days
Meanwhile, Globe also recently announced its plans to undertake the “biggest network upgrade,” where it will install more cell sites to have 4G / LTE using different frequencies to boost connectivity across the country.
Editor’s Note: A unit of the PLDT media conglomerate has a majority stake in Philstar Global Corp., which is run by Interaksyon. This article was prepared independently following the editorial guidelines.
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