OpenSignal, a well-known mobile analytics company, just conducted a research about the 3G and 4G speeds in the Philippines, with a focus on the two major players — Globe and Smart. Here’s what they found out. OpenSignal took into consideration the overall download speeds of both Smart and Globe from May 2017 to April 2018. Everyday mobile speeds seem to be improving for both Telco’s as their overall performance increased. According to the March to May 2017 report and the current February to April testing period, Globe’s overall speed increased 63% while Smart’s speeds increased almost double.
Mobile speeds for the country’s two telecommunications
companies are improving, an independent global mobile analytics company said. Based on the overall speeds of Globe Telecommunications and
Smart Communications during two test periods — March to May 2017 and February
to April this year — “Globe’s overall speed increased 63% while Smart’s overall
speed almost doubled in our measurements,” OpenSignal said on its website’s
Insights section. OpenSignal used overall speed as a measure to track
improvements because “it factors in 4G download speeds, 3G download speeds, and
the level of access consumers have to each type of network,” said the post
entitled “A look at the Philippines’ phenomenal growth in overall download
speed.”
Globe still leads in 4G availability, but Smart is catching
up. While neither of the two Philippines operators provided our
users with the 70% availability we have seen in more mature 4G markets, Globe
retained our 4G availability award as our users were able to find its 4G
connections 67.5% of the time. Smart continued to narrow the gap, however. One
year ago the availability difference between the two operators was 15
percentage points. In this report it’s just 8 percentage points. With 4G signals often hard to find, 3G connections remain
important. Here, it’s neck-and-neck between Globe and Smart as they both
provided 3G download speeds of 2.5 Mbps to OpenSignal testers. However, Smart’s
3G speeds stood out in the small but densely populated Capital Region, while Globe
had the faster HSPA tests in South Luzon.
These growths can be attributed to the continued expansion
of both Telco’s LTE services. According to the March 2017 report, Globe’s LTE
reach was about 55% while Smart’s is 40%. by March 2018, Smart’s reach
increased to 60%, while Globe’s reached 67%.
As seen in the chart above, the overall speeds of both
Telco’s were close until September 2017, where Smart suddenly took off. This
was because Smart increased their 4G availability and speed, which is still
increasing at a steady rate as opposed to Globe’s static improvement. Then
again, both are eager to improve their services due to the impending arrival of
a third player.
“Overall speed is also a useful means of tracking the
typical mobile data experience, as it measures the day-to-day speeds consumers
actually receive,” it added. The good news is those everyday mobile speeds are only improving
for both local operators. The phenomenal increase in their speeds owed to both
companies’ expansion of their LTE services, OpenSignal said.
“Their 4G availability scores all increased considerably,
which means that 4G smartphone owners were able to latch onto faster LTE
connections more often,” OpenSignal said. In its March 2017 report, OpenSignal said that Smart’s 4G
availability was just at 40% while Globe’s was 55%. But by March the year
after, Smart’s availability score had increased to 60% and Globe’s had
increased to 67%.
As indicated by the chart, which was also featured on the
blog post, Smart’s speeds began to accelerate after September. “Two things happened here, according to our data: 1) Smart
began to close the once huge gap between itself and Globe in 4G availability,
and 2) its 4G speeds began increasing at a faster rate,” the blog post said.
“Then right after our last Philippines report was published, the separation
between Smart and Globe in overall speed suddenly started getting wider.” “Our results show Smart’s 4G speeds began growing much
faster and its 4G availability continued to tick upwards while Globe’s remained
relatively static,” OpenSignal said.
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