INDEPENDENT mobile analytics firm Opensignal has reported in its April 2020 Mobile Network Experience Report for the Philippines* that mobile services provider Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) has swept its seven mobile experience award categories in Cebu.
For its independent analysis, Opensignal collected over 659 million measurements from 288,492 devices across the Philippines from Nov. 1, 2019 to Jan. 29, 2020.
In Opensignal’s Regional Analysis that covers Cebu, Smart won the awards for Best in 4G/LTE Availability; Best in Video Experience; Best in Games Experience; Best in Voice App Experience; Best in Download Speed Experience; Best in Upload Speed Experience; and Best in Latency Experience.
These results reflect the better mobile experience that Smart, TNT and Sun subscribers in Cebu enjoy as they browse their favorite websites, connect with family and friends on social media, stream their daily dose of videos and music and play mobile games, among other online activities.
Cebu’s Fastest and Widest Mobile Network
According to the Opensignal report, Smart has the most widely available 4G/LTE network in Cebu with an 88.2 percent rating, compared to the competitor’s 78 percent.
Smart also provides the Best Upload Speed Experience with an average of 3.6 Mbps, which is significantly faster than the competitor’s 2 Mbps; and the Best Download Speed Experience with an average of 8.2 Mbps, also faster than its rival’s 6.1 Mbps.
Moreover, Smart delivers significantly higher scores than its competition in the Video Experience category (53.2 versus competition’s 37); Voice App Experience (66.4 versus competition’s 62.8) and the new category Games Experience (37.4 versus competition’s 35.7).
Smart also leads in terms of average latency, which measures the delay users experience as data cycles through the network, measured in milliseconds. Smart wins with an average latency of 62.7 ms, compared to the competition’s 67 ms.
PH’s Fastest and Widest Mobile Network
On the national level, Opensignal cited Smart for keeping its dominance over competition in terms of 4G/LTE Availability, Video Experience, Upload Speed Experience, Download Speed Experience, Voice App Experience and Games Experience.
Smart posted all these service quality improvements even though data traffic on its network has been growing rapidly over the past few years. In 2019, Smart’s mobile traffic jumped to 1.6 Exabytes–twice the volume in 2018 and four times that of 2017.
In 2019, Smart expanded its coverage and capacity further by increasing the number of its 4G/LTE stations by 51 percent to about 24,600, as well as its 3G base stations by about 19 percent to 13,800. As of end-December 2019, Smart’s mobile data service coverage reached 94 percent of the country’s population. This was supported by the expansion of PLDT’s fiber optic footprint by 32 percent to 322,400 kilometers, the country’s most extensive digital backbone and transport network.
Upgrade to a Smart LTE SIM
Mobile users can experience Smart’s fastest and widest mobile network by switching to a Smart, TNT or Sun Prepaid 5G-Ready SIM, which is available at partner sari-sari stores, retailers, supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide.
Smart, TNT and Sun subscribers may also upgrade their Non-LTE SIM without changing their number, using the Smart LTE Upgrade SIM. First time SIM upgraders will enjoy free Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, at 1GB per day for 30 days. (Sponsored Content)