With 3 to 7 Mbps internet speed, Honasan says net in PH ‘not doing too badly’

MANILA, Philippines — The internet speed in the Philippines is “not doing too badly” compared to other countries, Department of Information and Communications Technology chief Gringo Honasan II asserted Tuesday.

While the Philippines is only hitting an internet speed of three to seven megabits per second (Mbps) compared to the 55 Mbps speed of some countries, this is not bad, Honasan said.

“Without going into figures, we are not doing too badly,” he said during the House deliberations on the DICT’s budget for 2021.

“Of course compared sa ibang bansa, sila pumapalo ng mga 55 Mbps, tayo naglalaro pa rin between 3 and 7 Mbps pero hindi na po ito masama,” he added.

DICT Assistant Secretary Emmanuel Caintic said the country’s fixed broadband speed in 2016 was 7.91 Mbps, which jumped to 25.07 Mbps this year. For mobile, the internet speed in the country is currently at 6.95.

“Malaki ang mga talon, however, hindi natin yon dapat ikagagalak kasi ang ating mga neighbors eh nasa 213.18mbps na fixed broadband at 56.43 sa mobile,” he said.

(We improved however we should not rejoice because our neighbors hit 213.18 Mbps in fixed broadband and 56.43 Mbps in mobile.)

He admitted that the Philippines still lacks the infrastructure needed for speedy internet.

To provide efficient internet speed across the country, Cahintig said the DICT will need a budget of P17 billion to “fire up” the country’s “national digital highway” by setting up fiber optic cables down to the 81 provinces in the country.

However, in 2021, only 902 million is allocated for this DICT project.

“Ang unang gagawin is paiilawin lang natin muna yung national higway natin which is the fiber optic cable of the national grid. Apart from that, gagastos din tayo ng mga microwave radio towers para sa malayong mabatuhan ng fiber,” Cahintig said.

Camarines Sur Luis Ray Villafuerte lamented the small amount allocated to the DICT’s national broadband program and vowed to ask lawmakers to increase the budget for the DICT program.