Slow yet Pricey "Net"

Here's confirmation of what we have known all along.

      

Internet service providers in the country are actually delivering very slow connection to  cyberspace and demanding a king's ransom for it.

      

This is one of the testimonies in the ongoing hearing of the Senate committee on trade on this issue. 

      

One of the resource persons summoned to the hearing said the advertised speed of basic data plans of the two major ISPs from 2011 to 2014 actually deteriorated, with the highest average actual speed attained at only 26.65 percent of the advertised speed.

      

Another report cited during the hearing said the Philippines is third to the lowest in average speed and second lowest in the Asia Pacific in connection speed.

      

The average peak connection speed in the Philippines is 20.3 mbps (megabits per second), compared to Singapore's 98.5, Hong Kong's 92.6 and South Korea 79.

      

Internet connection is also very expensive here as the bandwidth in Manila would range from $25 to $45 per mbps compared to only $5 and $6 in Hong Kong and Australia, respectively.

      

Rapid technological change since the 1990s have made our economy, government and academe all dependent on ICT for their day-to-day operations. But why is it that we have been lagging behind other countries in Internet connection?       Two things stand out. First, the government has neglected the building of an adequate Internet infrastructure. And second, real competition is sorely lacking as the telecommunications industry is dominated by only two firms that dictate market prices.

      

And what is the regulatory agency, the National Telecommunications Commission, doing about this?

      

The NTC is supposed to monitor the telecoms industry and to protect consumers, first and foremost. But with our excruciatingly slow and ridiculously  expensive Internet, it may well not exist at all. –End-

Image by: www.sctmobile.com