Del Ayre, Anthony John T.

Legal Writing 3
PLM Juris Doctor, 3JD1 October 17, 2020

The Sorry State of Internet Service in the Philippines

The Philippines has one of the slowest and most expensive internet service in
Asia. Average internet speeds in the Philippines fall well below average internet speeds
available in other Asian countries. The price per 1 mb of data in the Philippines is also
more expensive. Some even consider this issue as more bothersome than poverty or
corruption. This statement is based on a study released by the Philippine Institute for
Development Studies.

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.1

Despite this, Filipinos spend the most time on social media in the entire world; Filipinos
spend an average of ten (10) hours a day on social media, more than any other people
in the world, and way higher than the global median.2

Slow internet connection has become one of the major issues here in our country. The
issue is so prominent that it has become one of the major topics in the 2016 Vice-
Presidential Debates. The candidates therein blame the telecommunication industry that
has been dominated by two major companies; The PLDT group and The Globe group.
During the debate, then candidate who is now the Vice-President of the Philippines Leni
Robredo mentioned that the causes of this problem are the lack of regulation,
competition, and infrastructure.3

Some even consider this issue as more bothersome than poverty or corruption. This
statement is based on a study released by the Philippine Institute for Development
Studies.

1
Esquire Philippines. “So, Yeah, the Philippines Has Expensive Turtle Internet, According to a New Study.”
Esquiremag.ph, Esquire Philippines, 1 Jan. 1970, www.esquiremag.ph/culture/tech/philippines-internet-
a00203-20200820.

2
Dumlao-Abadilla, Doris. “At 10 Hrs, 2 Mins a Day, Filipinos Spend Most Time Online.” INQUIRER.net, 1 Feb. 2019,
business.inquirer.net/264438/at-10-hrs-2-mins-a-day-filipinos-spend-most-time-online.

3
Why Cebu. “One Major Cause of Slow Internet Connection in the Philippines.” Why Cebu?, 2 May 2016,
www.whycebu.com/slow-internet-connection-philippines/.
Thankfully, The Philippine government has put an effort in solving this issue. The
Philippine government agency with the mandate to promote internet connectivity is the
Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT). The DICT is the
chief implementor of the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act of 2017, one of the
measures enacted by Congress to improve public access to internet services. Despite
this, however, the number of access points for free public WiFi service under the Free
Internet Access in Public Places Act remains limited.4

The agency that regulates telecommunications companies and internet service

providers is the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). Reform advocates
contend that the NTC, using its powers under Commonwealth Act 146 (the Public
Service Law) can compel telecommunications companies to expand their service to the
unserved and underserved areas of the country.5 However, the NTC has not done so to
date.

Congress, therefore, has proposed and sought to pass a series of measures aimed at
addressing the underinvestment in infrastructure and removing limitations on foreign
investment in the telecommunications sector. In the 17th Congress it passed the Open
Access Bill, which seeks to allow internet service providers to build their own networks
independent of the telecommunications companies. However, this was not passed by
the Senate during that time. New versions of the Open Access Bill were refiled in both
the House of Representatives after the 2019 elections.
Amendments to the Public Service Law were also proposed and have been passed by
the House of Representatives in the 18th Congress; these amendments are now
pending with the Senate. It is hoped that these measures will, when passed, encourage
investment in broadband internet infrastructure and ultimately improve internet service.
According to Albay representative Joey Salceda, the bill proposes to further amend the
Public Service Act to effect the necessary changes in the antiquated provisions of the
law to increase its relevance to contemporary concerns, in the interest of providing the
general public with more choices, better services, and lower prices.6
Lastly, to further enhance the internet speed here in our country and to finally resolve
this issue, Senate Bill No. 1831 was passed requiring all public telecommunications
entitites and internet service providers to increase service coverage and to set a
minimum standard for internet speed.7 Senators Grace Poe, Ralph Recto, and
Emmanuel Pacquiao were listed as authors in the measure contained in Committee
Report No. 110 which was also signed by nine other members.

4
Republic Act No. 10929, 02 August 2017
5
Commonwealth Act 146
6
Juntereal, CJ. “House Panel Approves Amendment to Public Service Act.” Manila Bulletin, 28 Aug. 2019,
mb.com.ph/2019/08/28/house-panel-approves-amendment-to-public-service-act/.
7
Senate Bill 1831.
Under the bill, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) shall require
telecommunication entities and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to “extend and expand
the service coverage of fixed and mobile Internet in all unserved and underserved areas
in the Philippines within three years” which would be determined by the Department of
Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

It also proposes speed thresholds for the services to be delivered by the telcos and
ISPs: 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) for fixed broadband and 5 Mbps for mobile
broadband in highly urbanized areas and 5 Mbps and 3 Mbps for fixed and mobile
broadband, respectively, in all other cities. If enacted into law, telecommunication
entities and ISPs have three years “to ensure that they provide, as a minimum, the
threshold speeds to their end users.8

If not enacted into a law, the Philippines will continue to have one of the slowest internet
connection speeds across the Asia Pacific. Before, the global average internet
connection speed is 7.2 Mbps, but the Philippines falls short with an average of 5.5
Mbps.9 Even though there has been an improvement regarding the internet speed here
in our country over the last few years, ICT Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II said that
we can still do more.10

8
Terrazola, Vanne Elaine. “Senate Panel OKs Bill Requiring Minimum Internet Connection Speed.” Manila Bulletin,
19 Sept. 2020, mb.com.ph/2020/09/19/senate-panel-oks-bill-requiring-minimum-internet-connection-speed/.
9
Jr., Victor Barreiro. “PH Has Slowest Average Internet Speed in Asia Pacific – Report.” Rappler, Rappler, 1 June
2017, www.rappler.com/technology/philippines-akamai-broadband-adoption-internet-speed-rankings.
10
“Data Says PH Internet Improved; DICT Says It Could Do Better.” DICT, 19 Sept. 2020, dict.gov.ph/data-says-ph-
internet-improved-dict-says-it-could-do-better/.
Bibliography

Commonwealth Act 146

“Data Says PH Internet Improved; DICT Says It Could Do Better.” DICT, 19 Sept. 2020,
dict.gov.ph/data-says-ph-internet-improved-dict-says-it-could-do-better/.

Dumlao-Abadilla, Doris. “At 10 Hrs, 2 Mins a Day, Filipinos Spend Most Time Online.”
INQUIRER.net, 1 Feb. 2019, business.inquirer.net/264438/at-10-hrs-2-mins-a-day-
filipinos-spend-most-time-online.

Esquire Philippines. “So, Yeah, the Philippines Has Expensive Turtle Internet, According to a
New Study.” Esquiremag.ph, Esquire Philippines, 1 Jan. 1970,
www.esquiremag.ph/culture/tech/philippines-internet-a00203-20200820.

Jr., Victor Barreiro. “PH Has Slowest Average Internet Speed in Asia Pacific – Report.” Rappler,
Rappler, 1 June 2017, www.rappler.com/technology/philippines-akamai-broadband-
adoption-internet-speed-rankings.

Juntereal, CJ. “House Panel Approves Amendment to Public Service Act.” Manila Bulletin, 28
Aug. 2019, mb.com.ph/2019/08/28/house-panel-approves-amendment-to-public-service-
act/.

Republic Act No. 10929

Senate Bill 1831

Terrazola, Vanne Elaine. “Senate Panel OKs Bill Requiring Minimum Internet Connection
Speed.” Manila Bulletin, 19 Sept. 2020, mb.com.ph/2020/09/19/senate-panel-oks-bill-
requiring-minimum-internet-connection-speed/.

Why Cebu. “One Major Cause of Slow Internet Connection in the Philippines.” Why Cebu?, 2
May 2016, www.whycebu.com/slow-internet-connection-philippines/.