Globe Telecom is optimistic with the robust growth of home broadband adoption, as well as the steadily increasing average fixed broadband speed in the Philippines, in response to the latest Akamai State of the Internet Connectivity report.
Senior Vice President of Globe At Home Martha Sazon said the report substantiates the company’s endeavor to continue improving the state of internet in the Philippines. “Our efforts are finally bearing fruit and we expect overall internet experience to improve further moving forward as we continue with the aggressive deployment of leading edge network technology, as we progress towards serving two million homes by 2020 with high-speed internet,” said Sazon.
Globe internet at home customers grew to 1.2 million in the first quarter of 2017, representing an 8.8% growth YoY. This is a result of its aggressive push for affordable home broadband plans, with the majority of customers subscribing to a Globe At Home Plan 1299 at 10 Mbps. This is all part of the company’s initiative of creating an internet superhighway by deploying fiber optic cables in 20,000 barangays all over the country to provide faster and more reliable internet access in about 2 million homes nationwide.
Sazon noted that while internet at home adoption has been steadily improving, speeds over fixed-line remain a challenge, prompting Globe to expand network coverage and enhance capacities for fixed-line and improve overall state of internet in the country. “With home broadband plans becoming more and more affordable, we expect overall broadband adoption to grow, and in effect, overall speed to grow as well” she adds.
Sazon added that due to a history of underinvestment in the area of fixed broadband, little or no support from the government and permitting issues, the Philippines remained stagnant in terms of global average in terms of fixed broadband adoption and speed. “This prompted the telco industry to catch up by addressing the huge infrastructure gaps in contrast with its Asian neighbors” Martha said.
“Ever since Globe shifted its focus to home broadband in 2016, the country has seen noteworthy improvement in internet speed and adoption compared to the previous years” Sazon revealed. “Globe is now leading the charge in improving internet at home in the Philippines, as we did in mobile” Martha said.
Akamai Technologies revealed in its State of the Internet Connectivity Report for the first quarter of 2017 that the Philippines showed significant improvement in broadband speed and adoption.
In the report, the Philippines average fixed broadband speed is up 20% QoQ and 57% YoY at 5.5 Mbps. The country also registered the strongest growth in Asia Pacific region in terms of “above 4 Mbps connectivity adoption” at 39% adoption rate, growing 26% QoQ and a robust 111% YoY.
Higher bandwidth adoption rates more than tripled from 2016. For above 10 Mbps connectivity adoption, the country showed a 11% adoption, growing by 55% QoQ and a remarkable 330% YoY. For 15 Mbps connectivity adoption rate, the country showed steady improvement at 3.6 % adoption, up 52% QoQ and 373% YoY.
Akamai emphasized that despite the Philippines having the one of the lowest rankings among Asia Pacific for the above metrics, the government’s announcement of the national broadband network in the first quarter suggests improvements to the country’s infrastructure in the coming years.