Ntc fooled Filipinos to keep broadband standards low

If the Philippines is lagging behind our Asian neighbors when it comes to broadband speed connection, we only have the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to blame.

Far from its mandate of promoting consumer welfare, the telecommunications agency has, in fact, intentionally deceived Filipinos by purposely setting broadband standards much, much lower than that set by the NTC-recognized international standards body.

In its Memorandum Circular No. 07-08-2015 issued on Aug. 13, 2015, the NTC said: “Broadband, as defined by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), refers to a data connection speed of at least 256 kbps [kilobits – or thousand of bits – per second].”

Curious as to why the NTC would peg the internet speed in 2015 to that of a 1990s dial-up modem (a.k.a vintage, by today’s standards), we did a quick fact check and here’s what we gathered.

The ITU referred to by the NTC in its circular is an agency of the United Nations (UN) for information and communication technologies (ICTs). It is an international public-private partnership (PPP) organization based in Geneva, Switzerland; with some 193 countries and almost 800 private ICT sector entities (e.g. manufacturers, and telecoms carriers to R&D companies and academic institutions) among its members. It also allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits and develops technical standards on ICTs.

More than 12 years before the NTC came out with its circular, the ITU already defined what “broadband” is. NTC fooled Filipinos to keep broadband standards low | The Manila Times Online

 

I think the ISPs here are just being as cheap as they possibly can.....or complete idiots that don't understand how to run an ISP....or simply don't give a crap about the service they are promising to deliver. (Most likely a little bit of all three of those things.)