Marcos admits countryside internet crawls at turtle pace

What millions of Filipinos have long experienced — slow and unreliable internet — was finally acknowledged by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, as he called on the private sector to help deliver consistent nationwide access.

In a speech during the Philippine Telecommunications Summit at Newport Resorts World in Pasay City on Thursday, the President said that although the country’s telecommunications sector was valued at more than $6 billion last year, challenges in internet connectivity persist, alongside red tape and other regulatory issues, particularly in far-flung areas.

“While our cities enjoy high-speed and reliable service, many rural and remote areas — coastal communities, mountainous regions, and smaller islands — continue to face unstable signals and limited broadband access,” Marcos said.

Internet access in the Philippines is widespread but uneven, based on different studies. One such report said about 83.8 percent of Filipinos are internet users, yet only around 48.8 percent of households have home internet access.

Another study said fixed broadband penetration was lower, at about 28 percent of households, trailing several Southeast Asian neighbors and showing reliance on mobile rather than stable home connections.

Likewise, the Philippines’ median fixed broadband speed was only 36 Mbps, placing it 77th out of 103 countries in recent global measurements, far behind leaders such as Singapore, where median speeds exceed 300 Mbps.

Marcos offered reasons for what some have described as internet speed in the countryside that would make turtles appear fast. 

Widening gaps

“Delays in permits, right-of-way restrictions, fiber cuts, and power interruptions further widen these gaps. These affect real lives. They limit access to education, constrain economic opportunity, and slow national progress,” Marcos said.

The remarks of Marcos came against the backdrop of earlier commitments made at the start of his presidency to overhaul the country’s digital infrastructure.

The administration approved the National Digital Connectivity Plan (NDCP), billed as the first comprehensive roadmap for universal internet access, faster speeds and lower costs by 2028, with priority coverage for public schools, barangay halls and health centers.

The government also pushed regulatory reform to ease market entry and infrastructure sharing, culminating in the Konektadong Pinoy law aimed at removing long-standing barriers that slowed broadband expansion and limited competition.

Marcos said progress has taken shape through the rollout of 5G networks, the deployment of fiber-optic cables, the growth of mobile broadband and the expansion of digital services that have changed how Filipinos communicate, study, do business and interact with government.

He said that by the third quarter of 2025, telecommunications providers would have deployed over 1.8 million cable kilometers nationwide, connecting tens of millions of homes and creating pathways to classrooms, markets and opportunities that were once out of reach.

Cheaper, faster

“Broadband and mobile internet speeds have improved in recent years. These gains mean faster access to education, health services, government programs, and livelihoods. But development is not measured through internet connectivity speed. It’s when we see that Filipinos have the chance to improve and alleviate their lives, and prosper,” he said.

The President noted that the government, through the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), is implementing reforms to make internet services cheaper and faster. Among these is the enactment of the Konektadong Pinoy Act, which he said removed barriers that had slowed progress and limited competition.

The government has also implemented the Free Public Internet Access Program, which maintains over 9,500 active free WiFi access points in 5,057 public places.

To promote inclusion, Marcos cited the Bayanihan SIM Card Project, which provided public school students, teachers, and indigent communities with more than 89,400 subsidized SIM cards with monthly data allocations.

Marcos praised the private sector for continued investment in telecommunications and local government units for cooperating in improving internet services.

“We look forward to greater connectivity and coverage, so that faster and more reliable communications will reach more lives and more will be touched by this technology,” he said.