The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) is elated by the improved global ranking of the Philippines in terms of mobile internet speed but said there is more that needed to be done to achieve world-class service.
ARTA Director-General Jeremiah Belgica made the statement after Ookla, a global leader in mobile and broadband intelligence, reported that the Philippines lept from 111th to 86th spot in January 2021 from the same period last year.
In a statement, Belgica said he was over the moon when he heard of the report that the Philippines broke Ookla's top 100.
"I am elated to learn of the news of the significant leap in the world ranking of internet speed by the Philippines," he said.
However, he added that there were still a lot of things to be done to achieve faster internet speed in the country.
"Madami pa po tayong kailangan gawin at ayusin (We still have many things to do)," Belgica said.
"Ipagpapatuloy natin ang pag-monitor ng pagsunod ng lahat ng LGUs (local government units) at ahensya ng gobyerno sa direktiba ng ating Pangulo na pasimplehin ang proseso at pabilisin ang internet speed sa bansa (We will continue monitoring the compliance of LGUs and other government agencies with the directive of President Duterte to streamline the process and improve the internet speed in the country)," he added.
In its report, Ookla revealed that the local telco space recorded an average download mobile internet speed of up to 25.77 megabits per second (Mbps), while the average upload speed, meanwhile, was at 6.29 Mbps. For Fixed Broadband, the country kept its 100th spot out of 175 countries last month. Download speed was recorded at 32.73 Mbps in January, while upload speed reached 31.64 Mbps.
In his statement, Belgica commended the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for working on streamlining and faster processing of permits for the construction of more cell site towers.
"I am greatly encouraged that all of our hard work to help the private sector in this area is starting to pay off for the people," he said.
"The issuance of the JMC (joint memorandum circular) by ARTA, DICT, and other agencies, which streamlined the permits system and reduced the processing time from 8 to 9 months to not more than 16 days was indeed a concerted effort by the government and private entities as we all sought to heed the President's call for faster internet speed for the Filipino People," he added.
In December last year, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said that the global best practice should be the government building the necessary telecommunications infrastructure and not relying just on the private sector.
Cordoba, in particular, cited Vietnam and Thailand whose leading telco players are government-owned. Both countries are in the top 20 in Asia when it comes to service. The Philippines, at the time, lagged behind at the 34th spot.