Average measured Internet connection speed by Asia Pacific country/region. Source: Akamai
MANILA, Philippines — If you’re looking for blazingly fast Internet speeds, the country to migrate to is South Korea. But if you’re fine with sub-par surfing speeds that can’t even be considered “broadband,” then you’re in the right country, at least according to the latest report by technology platform provider Akamai.
In its State of the Internet report for the fourth quarter of 2011 released on Monday, Akamai disclosed that the Philippines is once again at the bottom rung of Internet speeds in the region, with an average measured connection speed of only 1.1 Mbps, ranking it at 103rd place in the world.
In contrast, South Korea, which has the fastest Internet connection speed in the world, clocks in an average of 17.5 Mbps, a 28-percent change over the recorded figure in 2010, with six of its major cities included at the top portion of the heap.
At the rate it is going, the average Internet speed in the Philippines cannot even be considered “broadband-level” speed by Akamai, as it defines broadband as connection speeds of above 2 Mbps.
In the country, only a privileged few — specifically 7.1 percent — enjoy Internet surfing speeds that can truly be considered broadband. Similarly, households with “high broadband connectivity” — or those with speeds exceeding 5 Mbps–only comprise less than 150,000 users of the entire Philippine Internet population.
As it is, the Philippines — along with India — “have the lowest broadband adoption rates among the surveyed countries/regions,” Akamai said.
Akamai Internet report
Comparing with other countries in the region, the Philippines’ state of broadband penetration paints a gloomier picture: Malaysia has 22-percent broadband penetration; Singapore has 67 percent; and Thailand has 70 percent.
The good news, according to Akamai, is that narrowband adoption–or Internet speeds below 256 kbps–continues to decline in the Philippines, with the rate dropping by more than 10 percent, with only 2.3 percent of the Internet population accessing the Web with such dismal speeds.
“Long-term trends across the region were significantly more encouraging, with strong yearly declines seen in the percentage of connections to Akamai at speeds below 256 kbps,” it said.
“Among qualifying countries/regions, China, the Philippines, and Australia all saw narrowband adoption decline around 60% year-over-year, while New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea all lost 30% or more year-over-year,” it added.
The Akamai “State of the Internet” report is a quarterly publication that includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time.
