PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. said their mobile data services are still considered among the cheapest in Southeast Asia.
In a statement, Globe said it continues to provide affordable mobile data and market-leading broadband offers that make connectivity more inclusive and accessible to a greater number of Filipinos.
This is evidenced by the leap in its mobile data traffic year-on-year, from 1,761 petabytes in the first half of 2021 to 2,177 petabytes in the same period this year, Globe added.
Its price per gigabyte (GB) also remains among the lowest in Southeast Asia at P6 versus telco operators in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, based on a comparison of current rates, Globe said.
With the majority of its mobile users on prepaid, Globe said its affordable connectivity promos make the internet accessible to many Filipinos. These are GO50 which bundles together 5 GB of connectivity with unlimited text to all networks at P50 for three days; and GOPLUS99 with 8 GB of mobile internet data, 8 GB of content and unlimited text to all networks at P99 for seven days.
For its part, PLDT’s mobile unit Smart Communications Inc. said its Double Giga 299 gives subscribers 1 GB of data for P4.67 or approximately $0.08, its most affordable offer per GB.
Comparing these data to global figures, according to cable.co.uk’s worldwide mobile data pricing for 2022, the average cost of mobile data in the Philippines ranks 33rd out of 233 surveyed countries and is the fifth most affordable in Southeast Asia at $0.52 per GB .
Meanwhile, the average cost of broadband packages in the Philippines is $44.19 per month, according to data from cable.co.uk’s worldwide broadband data pricing for 2022, placing the Philippines in the middle at 103rd out of 220 countries. This is also more affordable than the global average package price of $57.07.
For broadband, PLDT Home’s Fiber Unli Plan 1699 costs approximately $29.62, using the peso and dollar exchange rate as of September 19, which now provides speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps).
This enables customers to avail the Easy Speedboost for an add-on of P50 and P100 monthly to upgrade their speeds to as fast as 600 Mbps.
Globe also said it offers some of the most affordable fixed internet connectivity plans in the market with the fastest speeds, with GFiber UNLI 1699 plan at up to 150Mbps and GFiber UNLI Plan 2099 at up to 300Mbps; GFiber Flex at P899 per month for 300 GB at up to 25Mbps, which comes down to P30 per day and Home Prepaid WiFi at P799 with free 50 GB data and reloadable with shareable data.
Globe said its aggressive network expansion continues, with 572 new cell towers built and 6,800 mobile sites upgraded to 4G Long Term Evolution in the first half of the year. It is targeting to put up 1,700 new cell sites by year-end as it aims to beat the 2021 total of 1,407 site builds.
The PLDT Group also continues to invest on its network, having spent P518.5 billion for the last 10 years up to 2021. Network-related initiatives made up the bulk of the P89 billion spend for 2021. Its capital expenditure guidance for 2022 is P85 billion
.