PH internet speed ‘no good’—Jack Ma

Founder and executive chairman of e-commerce business Alibaba Jack Ma. (Photo: Jack Ma/Facebook)

Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce business Alibaba group is not impressed with the internet connection speed in the Philippines.

“I arrived late last night and I tried to test the speed of Philippine internet. It’s no good,” Ma said on Wednesday during his speech at De La Salle University.

During the forum, the Chinese billionaire encouraged the Philippine government and entrepreneurs to partake on the improvement of the internet speed and coverage in the country.

“If we are not covering internet, it’s gonna be worse just like a hundred years ago. Our cities, our countries are not connected,” Ma said.

According to the businessman, China encountered the same problem but had it worse than the Philippines. He added that fixing the internet speed in the country could be a business opportunity.

“Opportunity exists in the areas where most people complain. If you can solve the complaint, you have the chance to make things better. It’s a great opportunity for telcos to invest and the investment is guaranteed to return,” Ma said.

“Faster internet, 4G or the future 5G is an opportunity for everybody,” he added.

Early this year, Akamai Technologies’ Global State reported that Philippines has one of the slowest internet speed in the Asia Pacific with 5.5 Mbps. The global average is 7.2 Mbps.

Last 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte also warned telecom companies on possible Chinese competitors when he said that he would open telecommunications to foreign companies to cater better services to Filipinos.

In the forum, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion mentioned two of the most high-ranking officials of the widely known telco companies PLDT and Globe Telecom that were present in the forum.

“We have basically the two telco guys here. Ernest Cu (chief executive officer) of Globe, Eric Alberto (chief revenue officer) of Smart and PLDT. Blame them for the slow internet,” Concepcion said.