Filipinos took to social media on Tuesday to counter the statement of Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Sec. Gringo Honasan that he is confident on the country’s internet connection as it is ‘not that bad’ despite complaints of it being the slowest among other countries.
Honasan told lawmakers that the Philippines has an average 3-7 Mbps connection. He said that it might be slow compared to other countries’ internet speed that goes up to 55 Mbps, but ‘it’s not that bad’.
“Sa ngayon po, without going into figures, we are not doing too badly. Kaya lang po, naiintindihan natin na napakahirap nito ipaliwanag sa taong bayan. Sila pumapalo ng 55Mbps, tayo naglalaro parin sa 3-5 Mbps pero hindi na po ito masama,” Honasan said.
One Twitter user said, “Eh yung nakamove on na ko sa ex ko, pero yung page na niloload ko di pa rin makamove on.”
Another natizen commented, “Kung ganito na kabagal ang internet service from telcos, paano nalang yung mga prepaid lang at nasa kabukiran?”
“Dapat makita mo ang need na magampanan mo ang trabaho mo dahil kinabukasan ng 10 milyong istudyanteng Pinoy ang naksalalay jan dhil sa online learning. Please alamin mo ang sinasabi mo. Just saying.”
“OK. Given that the problem has been there before you came in. So ano balak mo dre?” another asked.
DICT Asec. Emmanuel Caintic said that internet connectivity can now reach up to 25.07 Mbps, compared to 2016’s maximum which is 7.91 Mbps. Mobile internet speed now can also reach up to 6.95 Mpbs, he added.
However, neighboring countries have 213.18 Mbps fixed broadband speed, with 56.43 Mbps mobile internet speed.
The DICT explained that the Philippines’ much slower connection is due to lack of telecommunications infrastructure. Some countries have fiber optic cables and telecommunication towers that help them get fast mobile internet.
Honasan believes that the government should partner with private companies like telecom companies to speed up or improve the country’s internet connection quality.
So far, the DICT has issued 23 provisional certificates to roll out telco towers in the country.
