The Philippines may be one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, but it has the slowest Internet in the region. Internet has always been a concern of many in the Philippines. In this age of technology, one of the things that probably keeps the Philippines behind is the slow internet speed. As of May 2015, the Philippines’ Broadband Internet Average Speed is 3.63 Mbps, ranking us 176th of 202 countries, in Holland we have 20 Mbps. Our average Mobile Internet Speed, on the other hand, is at 4.43Mbps, ranking us 92nd of 112 countries. The cost per Mbps in the Philippines was also one of the most expensive with an average value of $18.18. To compare, the global average is $5.21.
Out of the 202 countries, the country with the slowest download speed is Equatorial Guinea with 0.93 Mbps. It is not only consumers, but also businesses and even government. Now, I don’t have the actual data but let’s simplify it based on “Opportunity Cost” in terms of time wasted or productivity loss. Consumers, government and businesses don’t want to just surf the internet, but want to use it to access valuable services such as fast email, business critical information and applications. For our government, that could have meant more people filing loans online via SSS.GOV.PH; if we could do our taxes online, imagine those freelancers lining up paying their taxes! The point being much better tax collection and loan revenue! Billions of pesos lost from the Filipino People’s pockets due to just bad internet service, waste of time from even trying to troubleshoot with customer service reps, and just paying for the really expensive internet without getting the money’s worth. On the brighter side with the new elected president, Our government provide free wireless internet in parks, plazas, public libraries, schools, hospitals, train stations, airports, and seaports.
