We know the headline is shocking but according to a published article from Bloomberg, the cost of mobile data in the county is cheap, even among the cheapest in our neighborhood.
The reason behind this are the promos that are constantly popping out from the two telco players in the country. To be specific, they the current GoSurf50 of Globe and the Giga Surf 50 of Smart. With these promos, a user can enjoy 1GB data plus 300MB for selected partner apps for just Php50. They even come with unlimited all-net texts on the side.
According to an analyst from the UBS Group AG, one megabyte of data brings in just 0.1 USD or about Php5 of revenue in the Philippines compared with 1.13 USD or Php56 in China. Meaning, the local telcos doesn’t earn that much from these promos when compared to other telcos in Asia.
Despite being the cheapest though, there are still a lot to work on with speed and reliability. Yes, speeds have been slowly improving but it’s not enough to be felt by consumers around the archipelago. Both telcos are trying to compete with each other even though they only have their selves in the battle.
The reason why it’s cheap is because there’s little net neutrality to go around. You see Netflix promos, HOOQ promos, and even Spotify, and they kinda pay part of the cost of mobile internet just for them to have that competitive advantage from telcos.
It’s not inherently bad, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this will lead to even less net neutrality.