Senator Erwin Tulfo voiced support for the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) "Oplan Bantay Signal" initiative but warned that the government must prioritize accessibility and reliability over mere speed-test results.

The lawmaker said that while the DICT’s effort to monitor connectivity is vital, the agency must ensure seamless service reaches the countryside and not just urban centers.

"While speed is an important component, the DICT must give equal weight to the public’s paramount concern for consistent, reliable and widely accessible connectivity," he said.

The senator distinguished between the country's "infrastructure"—physical assets like cell towers and fiber cables—and its "infostructure," the data and software systems that manage them. He argued that both must be robust to ensure stable connections during peak usage.

He also addressed the high cost of connectivity, noting that internet access is now a "basic human right." To lower consumer prices, he proposed reviewing potential power cost subsidies for the industry.

The Philippines currently has some of the highest electricity rates in Asia, which drives up operational costs for data centers and internet providers.

According to data from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), the digital divide remains a significant financial burden. Average household spending on internet accounts for roughly 13 percent of the monthly income for poor families and 7 percent for low-income households.

Accessibility gaps also remain stark. PIDS reported that 41% of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao lacks broadband infrastructure. Similarly, mountainous terrain in the Cordillera region and the archipelagic geography of Region IV-B have left many "last-mile" areas with no internet service providers.

Orlando Oxales, deputy managing director of the think tank Stratbase, echoed the senator’s concerns, stating that speed targets do not always reflect real-world performance.

"A connection can be ‘fast’ but still feel terrible if it’s unstable, keeps buffering or falters in crowded places," Oxales said. "Users care less about peak speed and more about steady performance when everyone is online."

Oxales warned that strict regulations focused solely on speed have done little to improve overall service. He called for a more realistic approach to investment, noting that high compliance costs and deployment hurdles ultimately result in poorer service for the public.

The scale of the challenge is highlighted by the infrastructure gap between the Philippines and its neighbors.

As of 2021, the Philippines had roughly 152,000 cell sites, compared to approximately 1.5 million in South Korea’s highly urbanized network.

Despite these hurdles, Filipinos remain the world's third-heaviest internet users, averaging nearly nine hours online daily. Mobile data use in the ASEAN region is projected to nearly quadruple by 2030.

Oplan Bantay Signal, a collaboration between the DICT and analytics platform Ookla, aims to address these issues by allowing citizens to monitor and report mobile network quality in real-time.