Mobile download speeds in the Philippines nearly doubled year-on-year in July and the country’s global ranking rose, data from Ookla showed.

The internet speed monitoring company found the country’s average download speed on mobile networks increased from 16.95Mb/s in July 2020 to 33.69Mb/s.

Ookla ranked the Philippines 72nd out of 139 countries globally, up from 114th in July 2020. In Asia, the country ranked 23rd out of 50.

The average upload speed rose 48.2 per cent year-on-year to 8.83Mb/s.

Commenting on the results in a statement, Gregorio Honasan, secretary of the Philippines Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), highlighted Ookla’s data showed the “impressive rate of growth of our country’s internet speeds in just a year”.

DICT credited the improvement to its digital connectivity initiatives, particularly a common tower policy allowing the sharing of towers and streamlining the processing of permits for new builds.

Honasan added the department will continue to work with the National Telecommunications Commission and “other government agencies and private stakeholders to ensure that internet speeds…continue their upward trajectory in the coming months”.