By VANNE ELAINE P. TERRAZOLA
Senator Grace Poe wants to dig deep into the country’s internet connectivity.
Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, has filed a resolution urging an inquiry into the matter.
She cited in her resolution a recent report, which found the Philippines lagging behind other Asian countries in terms of internet availability, cost, and speed.
According to Poe, OpenSignal ranked the Philippine’s 4G internet speed 85th out of 88 countries surveyed in the last quarter of 2017.
While it noted that 4G availability in the Philippines increased from 58.8 percent in the third quarter, to 63.7 percent in the fourth quarter, the London-based industry monitoring company said the country’s 4G speed only stood at 9.5 Mbps.
This is a far cry from that of our ASEAN neighbors like Thailand, which has 9.6 Mbps 4G speed; Malaysia with 14.8 Mbps; Vietnam with 21.5 Mbps; and Singapore, which has a speed of 44.3 Mbps.
Poe also noted a separate study done by We are Social early this year, which mentions how Filipinos spend more than nine hours a day on the internet and about fours hour a day on social media – the highest (in both instances) in more than 200 countries surveyed in 2017.
Poe is hoping the probe would help pave the way in improving internet connectivity in the country even as she also vowed to review existing laws and regulations on telecommunications.
The Philippine government has been pushing for an entry of a third telecommunication player in the country to break the duopoly of PLDT-Smart Communications and Globe Telecoms in a bid to improve cellular and internet service.
