Philippines' internet rankings improved in December —Ookla Speedtest

The Philippines’ internet speed global rankings for both mobile and fixed broadband showed further improvement in December 2021, latest data released by global speed monitoring firm Speedtest by Ookla showed.

The country’s median download speed for mobile internet improved to 19.20 megabits per second (Mbps) from 18.68 Mbps in November, improving its global ranking by one notch to 89th from 90th out of 138 countries.

In terms of fixed broadband median download speed, the Philippines climbed nine places to 63rd from 72nd in November as speed improved to 50.26 Mbps from 46.44 Mbps in the prior month.

Ookla said rankings on the Speedtest Global Index are based on median download speed to best reflect the speeds a user is likely to achieve in a market.

Caloocan retained the top spot for fastest median download speed among the Philippines’ most populous cities at 25.24 Mbps during fourth quarter of 2021, a slight increase from its top speed in the third quarter of 2021 of 22.05 Mbps, according to Ookla.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) earlier attributed the upward trend in the country’s internet speed to President Rodrigo Duterte’s issuance of 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.

Likewise, in July 2021, the DICT and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) 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. —Ted Cordero/KBK, GMA News