Biazon presses for 10Mbps minimum speed for broadband internet
MANILA, Philippines – Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon called for the passage of House Bill No. 38, or the Faster Internet Services Act which requires internet service providers to provide a minimum internet speed of 10 megabytes per second (Mbps).
Biazon, the author of the bill, made the call after hearing the report of two brothers who died from electrocution while installing a signal booster in their hometown in Bohol.
Tristian Dexter Namoco Hamlag, 26, and Christian Val Hamlag, 20, from Dimiao in Bohol died when the antenna mast meant to boost internet connection for the latter´s online classes fell and hit an electric pole near their house.
“It is unfortunate that it has come to this: slow internet speeds have become deadly. This tragic incident only underscores the need for faster and better internet services in the country, especially since our students are relying on the internet to be able to study,” Biazon said.
House Bill No. 38 mandates the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to require all ISPs and Public Telecommunications Entities (PTEs) to provide a minimum of 10 Mbps download speed for all broadband access whether mobile, fixed, or fixed wireless. This would entail ISPs and PTEs to modify or improve telecommunication lines or expand infrastructure to serve their subscribers.
The bill also sets a Php 5 million fine to any ISP or PTE that does not meet minimum set standards.
“The internet has become very essential in our daily living that even the United Nations General Assembly recognized access to the internet as a basic human right. With all its amazing functions, however, high-speed access to the internet is necessary to prove its true value and maximize full potential as a tool in development. In this aspect, speed is the name of the game,” Biazon stressed.
Biazon noted the memorandum signed by the NTC to set the minimum broadband speed to 256 kbps while mandating service providers to disclose average data rates per location. While this was an effort to increase internet speeds in the country, it is still “clearly and grossly inadequate to help solve the problem.”
The congressman also noted that compared to its neighbors in Asia, where some of the fastest internet speeds are found, the Philippines still lags “way behind.”
“Singapore, for example, has an average download speed of 133.1 Mbps compared to our dismal 3.7 Mbps. And that’s even putting it generously,” Biazon said.
“Some reports even peg our country’s internet download speed at 2.5 Mbps, making us the country with the slowest internet connection in the ASEAN,” he added.
Biazon´s bill is one of several measures he filed to the Committee on Information and Communications Technology to increase internet speed in the country. A technical working group (TWG), chaired by Biazon, was formed by the committee and has already done two meetings to consolidate the issues.
With the inputs from resource persons, it was agreed that other factors affect the quality of service aside from internet service providers’ burst speed. Therefore, the law should include those factors that will improve the consumers’ overall internet service experience, Biazon said.
“The pandemic has made it necessary for internet service to be improved by leaps and bounds. But even without the pandemic, the Philippines must work on [improving] internet service because it is the wave of the 4th Industrial Revolution,” he said. Miggy Dumlao, trainee
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