PLDT president and chief executive officer Manny Pangilinan blamed the telco giant’s competitors for “pulling down” the Philippines’ rank in internet speed performance.

In PLDT’s 1st quarter performance briefing, Pangilinan, answering a question about market dominance, said the telco giant and its wireless arm Smart Communications still “dominate the space in terms of internet speed, coverage, video experience, and customer experience.”

“We’d be much better. I think our numbers are being pulled down by competitors,” Pangilinan said on Thursday, May 6.

Earlier during the briefing, PLDT’s presentation showed that it performed better than the Philippine average, based on data from Ookla.

PLDT’s fixed broadband speed was at 55.86 megabits per second (Mbps) on average in March, while the Philippines was at 46.25 Mbps.

Smart’s mobile internet speed, meanwhile, was at 31.42 Mbps against the Philippine average of 25.43 Mbps.

“If PLDT will be the sole telco in the country today, our rankings would be 15 places higher,” said Pangilinan.

Based on the cited speeds, PLDT’s presentation showed that it would have ranked 66th and 71st, for fixed broadband and mobile data, respectively.

The Philippines ranked 81st for fixed broadband and 86th for mobile data.

In April, independent mobile analytics firm OpenSignal recognized Smart Communications’ leadership in 4G coverage, speed, and experience. Smart beat rival Globe Telecom in those areas from January to March, according to OpenSignal’s monitoring.

Also in April, Globe and PLDT claimed to be the market leader for mobile data and fixed broadband, respectively. Both cited Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence data.

In March, Globe said Ookla data showed that it improved the “most” in terms of mobile download speed, by being 22% faster at 16.44 Mbps in the 4th quarter of 2020 from 2019’s 13.5 Mbps.

Globe is set to hold a briefing on its 1st quarter performance on Friday, May 7. – Rappler.com