Smart Communications, Inc. bested its rival Globe Telecom, Inc. in terms of mobile network consistency in the Philippines, according to a Canada-based monitor of mobile network data.
In a recent report “Southeast Asia State of Mobile Networks February 2019,” Tutela found that Smart delivers more consistent data connection against Globe on both “basic” and “excellent” standards.
The firm claims to collect more than 10 billion crowd-sourced mobile data measurements every day based on a testing configuration representative of typical performance of users.
Tutela said its measurement of “consistent quality” of mobile networks, which it developed on its own, evaluates network quality based on a “basic” threshold — meaning network used for simple web browsing; and “excellent” threshold — which is used for for data-heavy purposes such as 1080p video streaming.
The report found that in the Philippines, Smart gained a score of 91% versus Globe’s 89.3% in terms of basic quality, and almost doubled Globe’s score in terms of excellent quality at 48.8% against 23.8%.
“Tutela’s consistent quality score simply measures the percentage of time that users — whether for one operator or a whole country — can hit the thresholds. The higher the number, the more often users have a basic or excellent connection,” the report said.
“Subscribers are unlikely to notice Smart’s marginally faster download speed — the difference is just 2 Mbps (megabits per second) — but a consistent quality more than twice as good as Globe’s makes a marked difference in the user’s Quality of Experience,” Tutela added.
In terms of download speed, the report also showed Smart edged Globe with an average download speed of 9.5 Mbps against its competitor’s 7.3 Mbps, although “both provide an adequate average download speed.”
In a statement over the weekend, Smart Senior Vice President for Network Planning and Engineering Mario G. Tamayo said it continues to see an increasing demand for high-bandwidth services in the country.
“Our continuing network upgrades across the country are aimed to address our customers’ ever-growing need for high quality mobile internet services,” he was quoted as saying.
Last year, Smart was also recognized by Ookla and OpenSignal for recording the fastest fixed and mobile network in the country during the period.
Smart is the wireless unit of PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez
