No, it’s not your imagination

Opensignal has sent over data showing the disparity between mobile download speeds in Manila VS Cebu and Davao, and it’s not good. The research firm found that overall, download speeds in the metro was 73% faster compared to the two southern cities.

Data collected from 05/01/19 to 07/30/19 showed painted a bleak picture for people living in the south when it comes to download speeds: people living in Manila typically got 11.6 Mbps, while people in Davao got only 6.7 Mbps on average, while people in Cebu only got 6.6 Mbps.

Upload speeds don’t fare any better: while people in Metro Manila got 3.4 Mpbs, people in Cebu only get around 2.5 Mbps, with people in Davao getting by with just 2.4 Mbps.

While Manila is obviously the cultural and economic center of the country, both Davao and Cebu aren’t small cities and deserve better infrastructure to put them on par with the capital, at least when it comes to overall mobile internet speeds. Opensigal put it best: “the Philippines clearly has two tiers of speed when it comes to urban areas: there’s Manila and there’s everyone else.”