Yup, Your Internet Bill Is Among the World's Least Affordable

Despite improvements, Internet connection in the Philippines lags in the world in terms of affordability and speed on both mobile and broadband, a global study that covered 110 countries showed.

The Philippines ranked 104th in mobile affordability, 84th in mobile speed and 78th in broadband speed, according to cybersecurity platform SurfShark for its Digital Quality of Life Index 2021.

Also read: Why Exactly Is the Internet So Slow in the Philippines?

However, the country ranked first in broadband Internet stability, mobile speed growth, and broadband speed growth, according to the study.

The Philippines' Internet affordability improved by 156% but still ranked 72nd out of 110 countries assessed by SurfShark.

The study considers five factors in reviewing the digital quality of life in a country, namely Internet affordability, Internet quality, electronic infrastructure, electronic security, and electronic government.

"People in the Philippines have to work approximately five hours to afford the cheapest broadband Internet package, two hours 18 minutes less than a year before. However, the Philippines remains on the lower end of the Internet affordability index, ranking 72nd," according to the study.

Globally, the Philippines improved by 18 notches to rank 48th out of 110 countries. In Asia, the Philippines ranked 12th out of 32 countries.

"Overall, the Philippines has demonstrated one of the most significant improvements compared to the DQL (Digital Quality of Life) 2020, rising from 66th place to 48th and surpassing Indonesia," the study noted.

Denmark is the global leader in terms of digital quality of life followed by South Korea and Finland respectively. In Asia, South Korea is the top country for digital wellbeing followed by Singapore and Japan respectively.

And despite frequent complaints of poor Internet connection in the Philippines, the study surprisingly found the country's Internet quality to be among the "best" in the world at 20th place.

Improvements however have to be made to strengthen the Philippines' electronic infrastructure and electronic government, the study said.

"Digital opportunities have proved to be more important than ever during the COVID-19 crisis, stressing the importance for every country to ensure fully remote operational capacities for their economies," Vytautas Kaziukonis, CEO of Surfshark said.

You can view the full  2021 Digital Quality of Life report on the official Surfshark website. 

This story originally appeared on Reportr.world. Minor edits have been made by the SPOT.ph editors.

Source: Spot PH