Smart tops mobile network experience – OpenSignal

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. remains the operator to beat in the Philippines, topping its rival in four of five metrics for mobile network experience, mobile analytics firm OpenSignal said.

In a report, OpenSignal said Smart beat Globe in terms of video experience, download speed experience, upload speed experience and latency experience.

Globe managed to pull away with a slight advantage in terms of 4G availability.

“In our latest look at the Philippines mobile network experience, it’s pretty clear that Smart remains the operator to beat. But this does not mean Globe has been dormant. We’ve seen some impressive improvements in its download speed and latency experience scores to put the pressure on the leader,” OpenSignal said.

The two operators remain neck-and-neck in the battle for 4G availability, with Globe having the slight advantage at 75.3 percent compared to Smart’s 74.3 percent.

OpenSignal said Globe has become the first Filipino operator to pass the 75 percent 4G availability at a national level.

For video experience, Smart posted a score of 47.6 out of 100, while Globe recorded 30.4 points.

OpenSignal said Smart’s video experience score places it in its “fair” ranking bracket, which means its users may be able to watch videos with reasonable load times and minimal stalling at low resolutions, but at higher resolutions they will be difficult to watch.

Globe’s score, meanwhile, is in the poor ranking territory, meaning its users will struggle to get anything close to an acceptable video experience, even at the lowest resolutions.

For download speed experience, OpenSignal said Smart has kept its lead, but Globe is doing great work on closing the gap.

“Our users on Smart’s network saw their speeds increase by 0.4 Mbps to reach 9.4 Mbps, but Globe’s score jumped by a whole megabit to reach 6.5 Mbps. The overall picture shows that download speeds are improving in the Philippines – but there is one concerning result for Smart,” it said.

Smart also won the upload speed battle with a score of 3.3 Mbps, which is nearly double that of Globe.

However, OpenSignal said Smart’s upload scores are well short of the over-10 Mbps speeds now regularly seen in mature markets.

“The Philippines operators are clearly making some good progress in other areas, but as consumer habits change from passive website viewing to more sharing of photos and videos, they cannot afford to ignore their users’ upstream speeds,” it said.

In terms of latency experience, Smart’s score was three milliseconds ahead of Globe.

OpenSignal said latency is becoming increasingly important to many aspects of the mobile user experience, from instant messaging and calls to video streaming and online gaming.

The latest OpenSignal report analyzed the mobile network experience of the country’s two national operators over 90 days starting of May 2019 at a national level and across 19 provinces.