Smart: Quezon City network upgrade to be completed this month

SMART Communications, Inc. said Quezon City residents can expect better mobile Internet services as the company is on track to complete its network upgrade in the city.

In a statement, the wireless subsidiary of PLDT, Inc. said it is set to finish the first round of cell site upgrades in the city this month through the accelerated roll- out of Long Term Evolution-Advanced ( LTE- A) and carrier aggregation ( CA) technology which can produce faster mobile Internet speeds.

Smart said that recent internal tests showed that LTE speeds ranged from 29 to 224 megabits per second (Mbps) in areas which include Batasang Pambansa and Quezon City Circle. The said speeds were reached using advanced handsets like Samsung Galaxy S5 and S7.

This year, Smart is doubling the number of LTE base stations to about 17,700 and increasing the number of LTE- equipped cell sites to more than 6,800.

CA is a major feature of LTE-A, combining two or more separate bands of radio frequencies to create a bigger pipe for faster data rates, and improve overall user experience. Two- component carrier ( 2CC) aggregation features the combination of two frequencies, while three- component carrier ( 3CC) aggregation involves the combination of three frequencies, and four- component carrier ( 4CC) aggregation combines four bands, and so on.

Smart has deployed 2CC, 3CC, and 4CC aggregation in cities across Metro Manila, and in major cities in other regions of the country.

Smart began activating five- component carrier ( 5CC) aggregation in Marikina City, which the telco says can allow users to reach speeds recorded by LTE-capable devices to over 500 Mbps.

PLDT will spend a “historic” P58 billion this year, a historic amount for the company for massive network infrastructure spending.

PLDT reported a P13.4billion net income for 2017, lower than P20 billion in 2016.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. —