Philippines Has Expensive Turtle Internet

A global digital well-being study reveals the poor state of Internet in the Philippines.

By ESQUIRE PHILIPPINES 

IMAGE Unsplash, Wikimedia, Freepik

ILLUSTRATOR Bianca Papa

Access to the Internet has become a sore spot for the Philippines lately. Now that people are working from home, most are finding that their personal providers are slow, unreliable, or, worst, unavailable, as in there is no connection to the world wide web at all.

The Digital Quality of Life Index 2020, a recent study by VPN provider Surfshark, affirms these connectivity woes. Overall, the Philippines, which is highlighted twice in the 32-page report (and not in a good way), ranks 66 out of 85 countries in terms of digital well-being. 

The Philippines has expensive Internet connection. 

In the Internet Affordability index, which measures the time required to afford the cheapest mobile and broadband Internet in the country, the Philippines lands at 82, besting only a few countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Albania. Israel wins the round as the country with the most affordable Internet. 

Data also reveals that it takes 1,994 seconds of work to afford the cheapest mobile Internet and 75 minutes of work to afford the cheapest broadband Internet in the country.

The Philippines has poor Internet quality. 

The study’s Internet Quality index measures the average broadband and mobile download speeds and broadband and mobile stability during the pandemic.

Here, the Philippines chugs along at 77, placing it among the countries with the slowest and least stable Internet. Asian neighbor Singapore takes the top spot, while other Asian countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia occupy the five bottom slots in this category. 

The Philippines has less secure Internet.

E-security is gauged via the country’s cyber security efforts and personal data protection. In this index, the Philippines fares better, landing somewhere in the middle at 46.

The United Kingdom is the most prepared to fight cyber crime, taking the top spot, while Bangladesh has the poorest e-security, finding itself at the bottom.

The Philippine government has an above-average Internet presence.

Surprisingly, the Philippine government's above-average online presence—how its services are digitized or can be done over the Internet—hoists the country’s ranking for Electronic Government to 36.

Singapore, once more, takes the crown for having the most developed e-government, while Sri Lanka lags behind the rest at 85.

The study also observes that, for most, the e-security rating correlates with the e-government rank, as seen in the U.K., France, and Finland, all of which rank high in the indices.  

What does it all mean?

The numbers don’t lie. A poor showing in the study reflects the sorry state of connectivity in the Philippines, and this is negatively affecting the lives of Filipinos.

High costs mean limited access. Unstable connections decrease efficiency in work and enjoyment when you’re watching Netflix. Just think of the frustration when a movie stutters and then grinds to a halt.

The pandemic has only put a spotlight on the country’s Internet deficiencies. What should follow next is innovation.

Jack Ma tests internet in the Philippines: Not good!

By Ian Nicolas Cigaral (philstar.com) 

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In this 2015 photo, Jack Ma participates at a United Nations climate change event. UN photo/CC

MANILA, Philippines — Chinese tech magnate Jack Ma tried to test the Philippines' internet speed upon his arrival here, and he was not happy about the result.

Ma made his assessment during his lecture at the De La Salle University on Wednesday, which was also attended by executives of the Philippines' telecoms duopoly—PLDT, Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc.

"I arrived late last night and I tried to test the speed of Philippine [internet], it's not good," Ma said, drawing cheers from his audience.

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Last May, cloud service provider and content delivery network Akamai Intelligent Platform reported that the Philippines has the slowest and most intermittent internet connection speed in the world.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier threatened both PLDT and Globe with new competition from China if their services do not improve.

Last year, these two firms together agreed to buy conglomerate San Miguel Corp. out of the sector for $1.5 billion, pledging to invest heavily to boost internet service. The acquisition was the country's biggest corporate transaction in nearly three years.

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The Court of Appeals, in a decision dated October 18, ordered the Philippine Competition Commission to permanently stop its review of the deal and recognize its validity.

Opportunities

Despite the bad internet service in the country, Ma said he sees this as an opportunity for concerned parties to improve Manila's internet connectivity.

He also said it would be "unfair" to blame "anybody" for the country's poor internet connection as recalled starting his e-commerce business at a time when China's internet speed was "much worse" than the Philippines'.

"But this is the potential, this is the opportunity and I encourage your government, entrepreneurs, everybody that we work together to improve the speed and coverage of the internet," the Chinese billionaire said.

"Opportunities exist in the areas most people complain," he added.

"We have to make sure that everybody is connected."

Automation against corruption

Still on the topic of technology, Ma also urged the Philippines to promote cashless transactions to eradicate corruption.

"We should make the Philippines a cashless society. When you have cashless society, [there is] no corruption. A lot easier," he said.

"So Philippines, I think you have the opportunity to make the world's best fintech (financial technology) because you have so many mobile phones. You have more than 7,000 islands. It's impossible for banks to have offices in 7,000 [islands] covering everywhere. But mobile phones [can] cover everywhere," he added.

According to international magazine Forbes, Ma is back on top as Asia's richest businessman as he continued to grow the world's largest e-commerce businesses, Alibaba Group. His real-time net worth is at $38.3 billion.

He last visited the country in November 2015 to speak before the business leaders at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit. Ma was among the speakers along with former US President Barack Obama.

Slow Internet Connections? More Power Interruptions?

Duterte warns power companies to shape up

FRI, MAY 27, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – Amid the Mindanao power crisis, incoming President Rodrigo R. Duterte warned the major power players in the country that they must shape up or else he will open the industry to foreign investors to deliver a sufficient power supply to the island that has long been plagued by power outages.

Duterte issued the same warning earlier to telephone companies to work on the country’s slow internet speed.

In a late night press conference on Wednesday at the Royal Mandaya Hotel here, the incoming president said that he will be forced to open the country to investors to bring down the electricity costs.

He said consumers take the burden of paying high electricity costs due to the power industry’s penchant to tap expensive energy sources like coal and diesel but failing to deliver sufficient and reliable power supply.

Davao City, for instance, suffered rotational brownouts of up to five hours last month due to the shutdown of the first 150-MW unit of Therma South Inc. (TSI) from April 6 to April 17 and the reduced water levels at the Pulangui River and Lake Lanao because of the El Niño phenomenon.

“Kaya sabi ko you shape up. I told you before, shape up because if you don’t and hindi na kaya ng tao, kakainin sa energy (electricity bills) – importations (of fuel) – papasukin ko ang lahat, pati ang Nigeria, meron kayong oil? You want to put up (power plant)? Come here. We will amend the law to allow you.Babaan nyo. Tapos sino pa, Mexico? Sige bagsak (price) ng husto para kayo wala ng kita,” he said.

On privatizing the government’s power assets, Duterte said “not at this time.”

The state-run power assets in Mindanao are the six hydroelectric plants along the Agus River in the Lanao provinces and the one along the Pulangui River in Bukidnon, with a combined installed capacity of 982 MW.

During the Aboitiz Power’s Therma South Energy Project inauguration last January 8, President Benigno  Aquino  said that Mindanao’s power woes started when no investors came in to Mindanao to build more capacities after Mindanao legislators sought for a 10-year exemption from the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) for the Agus-Pulangui hydro-power plants.

The government claimed private power companies are reluctant to pour in investments in Mindanao as they could not compete with the cheaper rates offered by the hydropower plants.

“The result: As the demand for electricity grew, the supply didn’t. In fact, the hydroelectric plants that were once abundant sources of energy suffered from a number of factors, including the lack of regular maintenance, the vanishing watersheds, and the worsening effects of climate change,” he said.

Aquino said that they anticipated the Mindanao power crisis just before he assumed post six years ago.

“In recent years, Mindanao has had very little energy surplus. In 2010, this resulted in rotating brownouts that understandably frustrated our countrymen, and that stifled local economies. This was a problem we had anticipated even before we took office, which is why, from day one, we made a stern commitment to foster an environment that would encourage the private sector to make massive investments in energy in Mindanao,” he said.

More coal plants are set to be online this year – a 100 MW unit of the Sarangani Energy Corporation in Maasim, Sarangani Province, and two units of San Miguel Power Corporation with combined capacity of 300 MW.

Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) vice president for Reputation Enhancement Rossano Luga, speaking in “Wednesdays’ at Habi at Kape” in Abreeza of the Ayala Malls, said that they are negotiating with San Miguel for additional 80 MW to jack up its portfolio.

Luga refused to disclose as to when their negotiation would come to fruition.

DLPC’s franchise area covers Davao City, Brgy. Bincungan in Tagum City, and Carmen, Sto. Tomas and Braulio Dujali towns in Davao del Norte.

The DLPC current portfolio is 183 MW from the National Power Corporation (NPC), 49.5 MW from Hedcor Sibulan, 4 MW from HEDCOR-Talomo, 30 MW from Therma Marine Inc., 100 MW from TSI, and 50 MW from Southern Philippines Power Corp.

Luga hopes that their franchise area will not experience rotational brownouts when TSI implements a scheduled maintenance shutdown for its 150 MW unit 2 starting June 18 until July 18.

DLPC serves a total of 305,947 residential customers, 43,296 commercial, 3,750 small industrial, 181 primary retail, and 2 69-kV customers (Holcim and Steel Asia).

“Our positive growth are on the residential and commercial but because of brownouts we did not have the positive growth for big industrial and 69-KV,” he said.  Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews

Philippines is 6th in Internet Access

I love Internet. You love Internet. And many Filipinos too. And, it's amazing, the Philippines ranked sixth among 47 countries world-wide with the most internet freedom, a study by Freedom House (FH), a New York-based freedom watchdog, showed.

The study also showed that the Philippines is the only country in Asia that enjoys freedom in online media.

A total of 20 of the 47 countries examined experienced a negative trajectory in internet freedom since 2011, with bahrain, Pakistan, and Ethopia registering the greatest clines.

the 14 countries with most internet freedom worldwide were: Estonia, USA, Germany, Australia, Hungary, Italy, Philippines, United kingdom, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, Ukraine, Kenya and Georgia.