MANILA, Philippines — The country’s average internet speed last March for fixed broadband services increased by 20 percent over the previous month’s figure, according to data from Ookla Speedtest’s Global Index.
The fixed broadband download speed was at 46.25 megabits per second (Mbps) for March, compared to the 38.46 Mbps in February.
However, the average mobile network speed went down slightly, from the 26.24 Mbps download speed in February to 25.43 Mbps by March.
It was also not clear how the Philippines fared compared to other countries in March. But in February, it ranked 83rd in the mobile internet list and 92nd in fixed broadband list.
Still, the current average speed is much better than when the whole world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced people across the globe to rely heavily on online operations and services.
Last August, Ookla noted that average download speeds with mobile internet from March 30 to April 6 in 2020 — almost the same period as this year — was at 11.93 Mbps to 11.95 Mbps. This is a difference of more than 13 Mbps compared to numbers last March.
The speeds came as parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila, were placed under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to curb a rise in COVID-19 infections.
Fixed broadband internet speeds also differed largely: from March 30 to April 6, 2020, download speeds over fixed broadband ranged from just 20.52 Mbps to 20.47 Mbps.
Slow internet speeds just started returning to pre-pandemic levels on August 2020 — as economic restrictions were loosened.
But aside from the economic restrictions, another factor in the quicker internet speeds, according to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), was the warning issued by President Rodrigo Duterte to telecommunication companies.
In his State of the Nation Address in 2020, Duterte warned local telco players that they could face expropriation if the internet connectivity and signal reception would not improve before the end of 2020.
Duterte made the warning as schools and a lot of industries had shifted to online platforms to minimize exposure to COVID-19.