Philippine internet speed 'not doing too badly,' says Honasan

As far as Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio Honasan II is concerned, the country's internet speed is not as bad as it seems.

During the budget deliberations for the DICT’s P46-billion proposed 2021 budget late Tuesday, Honasan said the country’s average 3-7 Mbps internet speed is not that bad.

“No excuses po, we take full responsibility. Sa ibang bansa pumapalo sila ng 55 Mbps, tayo naglalaro between 3 and 7 (Mbps), pero hindi na po ito masama,” he said.

“Without going into figures, we are not doing too badly, we have improved a lot,” he added.

For his part, DICT Assistant Secretary Emmanuel Caintic said that Philippine internet speed has already improved from 7.91 Mbps to 25.07 Mbps on fixed broadband, while on mobile internet it ranges from 7.4 to 6.25 Mbps.

“Hindi natin ikinagagalak ito kasi ang ating neighbors ay nasa 200 Mbps on fixed broadband at 56.43 [Mbps] on mobile,” Caintic said, citing the need for better telecommunications infrastructure.

“Now more than ever our people need connectivity to carry their livelihood, education and lives,” Honasan said.

In a bid to improve mobile connectivity, the DICT recently issued
23 provisional independent tower company (ITC) certificates of registration. 

The provisional certificate serves as the provisional authority to own, construct, manage, and operate one or more Passive Telecommunications Towers Infrastructures, according to the DICT. —KBK, GMA News