Elijah Felice Rosales – The Philippine Star
October 18, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The government is partnering with internet analyst Ookla to improve monitoring of connectivity speed and response time to outages as part of efforts to narrow the digital gap in the Philippines.
In a joint statement with Ookla, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said they are enhancing transparency in the publication of data on internet speeds.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said “transparency is the new sexy,” perhaps in reference to the public demand for truth over the alleged anomalies in flood control projects.
In response, Aguda said the DICT is stepping up measures for consumers to learn more about the quality of their internet connection at home and on mobile. Ookla gives the agency access to the Downdetector dashboard to find out about service outages in real time.
Aguda said the DICT would maximize this access to quickly report disruptions to the responsible provider.
The partnership also supports the DICT’s Oplan Bantay Signal, which is a platform that enables users to check their internet speed in real time.
Likewise, the tie-up mandates Ookla to submit quarterly reports on network performance of telco providers so the DICT can identify which areas are lagging and where improvements are needed.
“With this strategic alliance (with Ookla), we reaffirm DICT’s dedication to a Philippines where connectivity is transparent, reliable and always improving,” he added.
The DICT, through Oplan Bantay Signal, operates a dashboard where consumers can find which provider is turning in the quickest download speeds. The platform also monitors the availability, consistency and reliability of Dito, GOMO, Globe, Smart, Sun, TM and TNT.