Internet Speeds: Are we still the slowest in ASEAN?

In 2014, we published a story about the Philippine internet/broadband speed being the slowest in the Asean 26region. At 3.6Mbps, the Philippines was ranked lower than Laos (4.0Mbps) and Myanmar (4.9Mbps) and Singapore, which was ranked at #1, was getting 61Mbps on average.

It went viral that a PLDT SVP sent an emissary demanding that we take down the story.

It’s been almost 7 years since that news came out and while we continuously cover broadband stories in the Philippines, we think it’s time to re-visit that topic — are we still the slowest in the region in terms of broadband speeds?

Well, according to Ookla, our median fixed broadband speeds are now at 50.26Mbps (14x faster than 7 years ago) and the Philippines is ranked at #63 worldwide. That’s 9 places higher compared to our rankings in December 2020 at #72. In July of that year (2020), the Philippines was at 108th at 23.74Mbps. That’s a huge leap in the span of less than 2 years.

Country	April 2014	December 2021	Percentage Increase
Singapore	61.0Mbps	192.17Mbps	315%
Japan	41.7Mbps	111.36Mbps	267%
USA	22.3Mbps	136.53Mbps	612%
China	18.3Mbps	153.33Mbps	838%
Thailand	17.7Mbps	175.93Mbps	934%
Global Average	17.5Mbps	59.75Mbps	341%
Vietnam	13.1Mbps	68.53Mbps	523%
ASEAN Average	12.4Mbps	69.18Mbps	558%
Cambodia	5.7Mbps	19.01Mbps	334%
Malaysia	5.5Mbps	83.07Mbps	1,510%
Myanmar	4.9Mbps	15.75Mbps	321%
Brunei	4.9Mbps	35.92Mbps	733%
Indonesia	4.1Mbps	20.22Mbps	493%
Laos	4.0Mbps	30.97Mbps	774%
Philippines	3.6Mbps	50.26Mbps	1,396%

From dead last at #10 in 2014, the Philippines jumped to the front of the rankings and is now at #5, next to Vietnam. Among the 10 ASEAN countries, Malaysia has the highest speed improvement at 1,510% followed by the Philippines at 1,396%.

We’ll give credit where credit is due — the Philippines is doing much better in terms of broadband performance. And we’ve seen this in the last 3 to 5 years where a lot of service providers have shifted attention (and capital expenditures) to expanding the national broadband network. Competition also played a huge role with Converge ICT putting a lot of pressure 11 against the two telco giants despite being a new entrant in the space.

Notes: We used Ookla as the basis for the internet broadband speed and ranking since it’s publicly available and it was the same measurement tool that placed the Philippines dead last in 2014.

The ASEAN average was derived from taking the average speeds of all 10 member nations listed in the table.

Singapore’s average speeds dropped from 208.16 Mbps in July 2020 to 192.17Mbps in December 2021. Indonesia also dropped to just 20.22Mbps from 21.28 Mbps in July 2020 as well as Laos (34.61Mbps -> 30.97Mbps) and Myanmar (18.78 Mbps -> 15.75Mbps).

Further readings — Why Internet in the Philippines is Slow and Expensive 56

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

12 Comments

concerncitizen says:

2 years ago

start exposing who is that pldt SVP
- Reply
John Lahorra says:

2 years ago

“..a PLDT SVP sent an emissary demanding that we take down the story.”

Hilarious! PLDT/Smart doesn’t want the ugly truth to be known. I wonder how much money they offered to “silence” the truth.

Obviously, they’d rather continue ripping off the public instead of improving their management, investing in competent personnel, upgrading their equipment, and improving their service. Case in point: their grossly embarrassing marketing campaign of hiring K-pop stars and movie celebrities to give the impression that their internet service is cool, ultra-fast, and cutting-edge. In fact, it is the opposite – embarrassing, turtle-slow, and obsolete. No amount marketing will change the facts that the public already knows.

Way to go, PLDT!
[play “Curb Your Enthusiasm” music]
- Reply
John Ovid Biñas says:

2 years ago

It is indeed better now. Before we had Globe LTE Wifi for at least 1199 @5mbps for 400gb/mo iirc. But even before that we only had the 1Mbps Wimax connection. Back then, wired connections are still expensive, especially fiber, and for Globe, fiber is very limited to only selected locations, unlike Converge and PLDT. But as of 2020, that’s when things started to change, prices from each telcos became more competitive, therefore, good for consumers. Lately Globe offered a new promo which is 2099 @150mbps unlimited fiber connection. And so we took that as our most recent upgrade. From 1Mbps Wimax (capped), to 5Mbps LTE (capped), to 25Mbps VDSL (got boosted to 35mbps), to 50mbps Globe Fiber, and to GFiber Unli Plan 2099 @150mbps.
- Reply
John Ovid Biñas says:

2 years ago

It is indeed better now. Before we had Globe LTE Wifi for at least 1199 @5mbps for 400gb/mo iirc. But even before that we only had the 1Mbps Wimax connection. Back then, wired connections are still expensive, especially fiber, and for Globe, fiber is very limited to only selected locations, unlike Converge and PLDT. But as of 2020, that’s when things started to change, prices from each telcos became more competitive, therefore, good for consumers. Lately Globe offered a new promo which is 2099 @150mbps unlimited fiber connection. And so we took that as our most recent upgrade. From 1Mbps Wimax (capped), to 5Mbps LTE (capped), to 25Mbps VDSL (got boosted to 35mbps), to 50mbps Globe Fiber, and to GFiber Unli Plan 2099 @150mbps.
- Reply
Shawn Guzzi says:

3 years ago

Two factors you should look into. Pldt priorities Ookia, s website to boost already terrinle proformance. Try a private testing or lesser known site and and the numbers are shockingly less. Plus ookuas site default test only to pldts local severs and that is not internet thats actually intranet still an internal network. I have a 500mbps service yesterday tested at 250mbps on ookia and 2mbps to a California server, hk server and Japanese server on a independent testimg. Really the issues are worse and the above facts were confirmed by pldts oen it staff. Look into this more its ridiculously because they actually have a masive surplus in bandwidth ive been in there lab on boni ave office.
- Reply
Ola says:

3 years ago

Rip pldt
- Reply
Rodzki (@rodzkitweet) says:

3 years ago

DITO TELCO is behind all this SUDDEN rocket speed internet. Kudos to you DITO.
Do we have to bid goodbye now to those Jurassic and Corrupt Telcos…? Don’t we? ?
- Reply
Rodzki (@rodzkitweet) says:

3 years ago

DITO TELCO is behind all this SUDDEN rocket speed internet. Kudos to you DITO.
Do we have to bid goodbye now to those Jurassic and Corrupt Telcos…? Don’t we? ?
- Reply
bobby gap says:

3 years ago

i didnt feel your internet speed…50mbps?.. i use samsung note 10..but all i get is 10mbps…5G?? its just a half an inch of 4G… if i can rate it?? ill give you turtle speed…
- Reply

jmmjmj says:

2 years ago

Dude, what are you talking about lol Note 10 isn’t even a 5G phone.
bobby fap says:

3 years ago

Doesn’t matter what phone you use. It’s all about location.
James says:

3 years ago

The speeds above are talking about fixed broadband (PLDT, Globe at Home, Converge) not mobile networks.

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