Internet speed in Manila among slowest in AsPac

MANILA, Philippines — Smartphone users in Manila experience the second slowest upload speed and the fourth slowest download speed among key cities in Asia Pacific, according to the latest report of OpenSignal.

The OpenSignal report, which covers data gathered from Feb. 1 to May 2, showed Manila posted an upload speed experience score of 3.3 Mbps, slightly better than Phnom Penh’s 2.7 Mbps, which finished at the bottom among 12 Asia Pacific cities.

Seoul had the fastest upload speed experience score of 16.6 Mbps, followed by Singapore and Taipei with 13.1 Mbps and 9.4 percent, respectively.

Slightly ahead of Manila’s score was Jakarta with 3.6 Mbps.

In terms of download speed experience score, Manila ranked fourth from last with 11.2 Mbps.

Download speed experience factors in both 3G and 4G speeds along with the availability of each technology.

Phnom Penh was again at the bottom with 6.3 Mbps, followed by Jakarta and Bangkok with 8.2 Mbps and 9.8 Mbps.

Seoul’s download speed experience score of 56.3 Mbps, which was the fastest, was 41 percent faster than second-place Singapore or third-place Sydney, and almost double that of Tokyo or Taipei, according to OpenSignal.

OpenSignal’s mobile video experience results also placed Manila second from the bottom with a score of 45.

Manila’s mobile video experience score puts it under the “fair” category, alongside the cities of Phnom Penh (41.6), Jakarta (50.1), Kuala Lumpur (53.4), and Bangkok (53.9).

Opensignal said its video experience metric is derived from an International Telecommunication Union -based approach for determining video quality which takes picture quality, video loading time and stall rate into account.

“With further 5G launches planned across the region, those cities which are lagging today should look to use the capacity provided by new 5G spectrum and technology to move ahead and establish themselves as the leading locations for mobile network experience,” OpenSignal said.

Last week, OpenSignal released a report which showed that mobile internet speeds in the Philippines continue to lag behind most countries in the world, ranking 11th slowest in upload speed (2.2 Mbps) and 16th slowest in download speed (seven Mbps) among 87 countries.

While the current report has no information per operator, OpenSignal previously released a mobile network experience report on the Philippines which showed how the country’s operators performed.

The earlier study, which was released in March, showed that in Manila, Smart posted a download speed experience score of 15.2 Mbps and a “good” video experience score of 55.4.

Smart’s scores in the March report were well ahead of competition in the Philippines as it led in four metrics — download and upload speed experience, video experience and latency experience — while it was tied with competition in terms of 4G availability.