Telcos losing subscribers on poor signal, speed

MANILA, Philippines — Mobile operators in the Philippines risk losing subscribers due to slow internet speeds and weak cellular signals, especially as options for connectivity widened with the entry of more players.

In a study, Opensignal senior analyst Sam Fenwick said Philippine telcos risk losing some of their customers to competitors if they fail to resolve inconsistencies mainly in their mobile signal and network availability.

Fenwick said Globe Telecom users, for instance, logged higher internet speed of up to 23.1 Mbps, from 15.1 Mbps, upon leaving the Ayala-led telco.

Subscribers who left Dito Telecommunity, meanwhile, experienced a 1.1-Mbps drop in their download speed upon moving to another operator. Customers who unsubscribed to Smart Communications saw their internet speed slip to 17.1 Mbps, from 22.1 Mbps, when they left the mobile giant.

On the other hand, Fenwick said Dito users experienced an improvement in their phone signal when they made a switch. Prior to leaving, these subscribers complained that 2.2 percent of the time Dito failed to keep them connected.

“Only the Dito leavers saw a statistically significant improvement in the proportion of time they spent with no signal in the 30 days after they changed their operator with a drop from 2.2 percent to 1.1 percent,” Fenwick said.

However, customers who left Dito and Globe suffered a decline in 4G and 5G availability upon transferring to another network.

On the contrary, subscribers who moved out of Smart saw their 4G and 5G connectivity jump to 93.5 percent, from 87.3 percent, especially as Dito and Globe poured their investments in putting up 5G sites across the archipelago.

Fenwick recognized, in particular, the accomplishments made by Globe in rolling out additional infrastructure to improve mobile coverage and services. Last year, the Ayala-led telco deployed a total of 2,267 new 5G sites, built 1,702 new cell sites and upgraded 13,600 mobile sites to 4G.

“This effort has clearly reaped dividends because Globe caught up, and then overtook, Smart in the amount of time users spend connected to 4G or 5G. Further, Globe has cut into Dito’s lead,” Fenwick said.

In spite of this, Fenwick believes Smart will eventually catch up with its competitors in terms of 4G and 5G availability, as it plans to take down its 3G network this year to free up spectrum for 4G and 5G assets.