Why Philippine internet speeds are slow?

The Philippines' average peak internet connection speed is faster than that of China and several countries in the Asia-Pacific region but its low use of broadband technology -- as well as high costs for internet users compared to other countries -- mean slow average connection speeds for consumers.

The Philippines had an average peak internet connection speed of 32.6 megabits per second (Mbps) in the 4th quarter of 2013, representing a 103% quarter-on-quarter growth and a 144% rise from the same period in 2012, said Massachusetts-based Akamai Technologies Inc. in its State of the Internet report released Wednesday.

Hong Kong topped the Asia-Pacific list with 68 Mbps, followed by South Korea (64.4 Mbps), Singapore (59.1 Mbps), and Japan (53.7 Mbps).

Ranking below the Philippines in average peak internet connection speed were Malaysia (30 Mbps), New Zealand (21.6 Mbps), China (13.8 Mbps), Vietnam (12.6 Mbps), Indonesia (12.5 Mbps), and India (10.9 Mbps).

Hong Kong also topped the global list, followed by South Korea and Singapore.

"Similar to the quarter-over-quarter changes, the largest yearly increase was seen in the Philippines, which grew 144% from the fourth quarter of 2012," the Akamai report said, adding that it was the only country to see its speed double on a yearly basis.

However, the Philippines' average connection speed per user was only around 2Mbps during the period, compared to South Korea's 21.9 Mbps, Japan's 12.8 Mbps, Hong Kong's 12.2 Mbps, Taiwan's 8.3 Mbps, and Singapore's 7.9 Mbps.

Only Vietnam, Indonesia, and India ranked below the Philippines in average connection speed.

Akamai said the average connection speed in the Philippines grew 11% quarter-on-quarter and 42% year-on-year.

Globally, the average Internet speed grew 27% year-over-year to 3.8 Mbps, while mobile traffic jumped by 70%.

The Philippines also lagged behind in high broadband (more than 10 Mbps) and broadband (more than 4 Mbps) connectivity, the report said.

The country only had a 0.2% high broadband connectivity and 3.6% broadband connectivity during the period.

In comparison, South Korea had the highest level of high broadband adoption, with 71% of connections to Akamai at speeds above 10 Mbps.

It added that South Korea reached near-universal broadband adoption (94%) in the last quarter of 2013.

Other areas in Asia Pacific increased broadband use while the broadband adoption rate in the Philippines remained stuck well below 10%.

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Justin Bieber Apologizes for Visiting Shrine Honoring War Criminals in Tokyo

Did Justin Bieber honor the memory of some of Japan’s worst war criminals during his recent trip to Tokyo? You better belieb it!

According to the international pop sensation’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, Bieber dropped by the notorious Yasukuni Shrine this week, where he paid his respects to Japan’s war dead, including former military leaders from the country’s imperial army who committed mass atrocities across Asia and the Pacific during World War II.

“Thank you for your blessings,” tweeted Bieber, which garnered more than 666,000 likes on Instagram and tens of thousands of retweets before the singer suddenly removed the image from his account.

Thank you for your blessings.http://t.co/qmK0i5spBT

— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) April 22, 2014

But Bieber’s China fans were less than impressed by the visit, urging him on social media to remove the picture out of respect for the dead. Bieber eventually responded to the controversy caused by the incident with an Instagram post on Wednesday of TIME’s story on the upset:

“While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine,” wrote Bieber. “I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer. To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry. I love you China and I love you Japan.”

Bieber’s visit to Yasukuni comes almost a year to the day after he visited the Anne Frank House, a museum honoring the legacy of the Jewish teenager who was killed in a Nazi concentration camp in World War II. Hescrawled in the guestbook that “hopefully she would have been a Belieber.”

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Justin Bieber Seeks Counseling after Suffering from Normal Thoughts

LONDON, ONTARIO–In a highly publicized press conference yesterday, Scooter Braun, manager of Canadian teen-pop idol Justin Bieber, revealed that the young star is seeking professional help for what he describes as “recurring, and almost debilitating, normal thoughts”.

“Justin has had a serious relapse, but he is getting the help he needs,” said Braun.  “Our team of celebrity psychiatrists have assured me that Justin will not suffer any long-term effects from these thoughts and that he will be back to spreading Bieber Fever in no time.”

According to sources close to the Biebers, the incident occurred after Justin witnessed his half-brother put his pant legs on one at a time.  This supposedly caused the pop sensation to crawl up into the fetal position and call out, “Baby, No!” and “It’s not the same!” repeatedly.

Mr. Braun and his head psychiatrist, Hima Kwak, went on to divulge that, although this was not the first time this sort of thing had happened, it was the most pronounced.

“Justin is young and still a bit naive,” reported Dr. Kwak.  “Take, for example, the issue with the blue jeans.  It’s baffling to realize that he doesn’t know that real superstars put their pants on two legs at a time.  It’s one of the things that makes them special and sets them apart from the little people.

But this is an easy issue to deal with–at least on the surface.” Dr. Kwak went on. ” Underneath, however, we still have some work to do.  In my professional opinion, Justin needs to become a belieber in Beiber as so many millions have come to belieb in him and idolize him for his unbeliebableness.  If he can do this, then he can finally put all of these silly thoughts of normalcy behind him forever.”

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JAPAN OFFERS TO BUY METRO MANILA FOR $57 BILLION

Tokyo, Japan -  Noting that Metro Manila’s traffic, infrastructure and housing problems can no longer be solved by the Philippines’ National Capital Region, Japan has offered to buy Metro Manila for $57 Billion.

The Japanese government, acting on a report by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), made the offer to Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay. By purchasing Metro Manila, Japan hopes to implement JICA’s “Dream Plan” to solve once and for all Metro Manila’s decades-old woes.

The dream plan seeks to achieve by 2030, the five “No’s” considered to be the ultimate key to the revival of the dying metropolis : no traffic congestion, no excessive transport cost burden for low-income groups, no households living in high hazard risk areas, no barriers for seamless mobility of people and no air pollution.

Under the purchase proposal, Metro Manila will become a Prefecture of Japan and both the local and national governments  of the Philippines will totally give up ownership and control of Metro Manila which consists of 17 cities and towns.

The only remaining obstacle to the proposed purchase is to determine how the $57 Billion will be divided among Philippine President Noynoy Aquino, Estrada, Binay and the rest of the mayors of the cities and towns of the metropolis.

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