Globe argues service is defined by overall quality, not just speed

MANILA, Philippines – In light of recent third-party reports from OpenSignal and Ookla finding that Smart has better mobile speeds than rival Globe, Globe argues that speed is just one factor of the overall experience.

In an emailed statement, Globe said that the company “continues to improve customers’ overall quality of experience and not just speed.”

To support the argument, they said that they have been able to improve the quality of mobile video streaming in recent months. They said that “the number of YouTube videos meeting 360p resolution went up to 77% in December 2018 from 69% in May 2018. This improvement comes as Globe Telecom’s LTE cells continuously grow to 81,210 in December 2018, from 58,482 in January 2018.”

“In order to continuously improve the overall quality of experience of its customers, Globe regularly tests not only for raw speed but for overall quality of experience,” Globe said.

Its chief technology and information officer, Gil Genio, further explained: “Raw speed is one but overall quality of experience is another. We use a variety of metrics, like buffering time, resolution of the video, playback start time, and average download throughput.”

They also indicated that the improvements they say they’re constantly making have allowed them to deliver a 59% increase in total amount of data delivered year-over-year from 2017 to 2018. Globe delivered a total of 956 petabytes in 2018, although numbers could also have been boosted with the increasing affordability of 4G phones in the Philippines. 

60% of those 956 petabytes come from online video, Globe said, hence their focus on improving the mobile video watching experience.

By comparison, Globe said that Smart had 820 petabytes delivered in 2018. – Rappler.com