Philippines has slowest internet in region as government promises action

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Frustration: The Philippines has the 108th worst internet speeds in the world.

It’s official — the Philippines had the slowest internet in the Asia Pacific region over the last three months of 2016.

According to Akamai’s fourth quarter State of the Internet report, internet speeds averaged 4.5 Mbps over this time, up 7.9 per cent from the previous quarter and up 44 per cent on the year.

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The Philippines was ranked lowest among 15 Asia Pacific countries and 108th in the world.

South Korea topped the global rankings with average speeds of 26.1 Mbps, followed by Norway (23.6 Mbps), Sweden (22.8 Mbps), Hong Kong (21.9 Mbps), Switzerland (21.2 Mbps), Denmark (20.7 Mbps), Finland (20.6 Mbps), Singapore (20.2 Mbps) and Japan (19.6 Mbps).

After these regional leaders, Taiwan had the fifth fastest with (15.6 Mbps), followed by Thailand (13.3 Mbps), New Zealand (12.9 Mbps), Australia (10.1 Mbps), Vietnam (8.3 Mbps), Malaysia (8.2 Mbps), Sri Lanka (7.3 Mbps), Indonesia (6.7 Mbps), China (6.3 Mbps), India (5.6 Mbps) and — in last place — the Philippines.

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The Philippines looks set to languish at the bottom of the table

There are grounds to hope for improvement, however, after President Duterte approved a national broadband plan and government portal earlier this month.

The president has also threatened to open up the country’s telecommunications sector to more players unless local providers step up their game.

Plans to set up a nationwide broadband infrastructure fell through under former President Gloria Arroyo’s government due to allegations that Manila’s deal with China’s ZTE Corp was overpriced.

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