Towering ambition: Telcos in a frenzy over 5G, but is the PHL ready?
WHAT if you were in the office writing reports and preparing presentations, and you suddenly remembered that you forgot to turn off your oven? It doesn’t sound like there might be a house for you to come home to, right? With no one to help you, you now rush back to your place—not minding the risk of getting terminated—to turn the oven off and prevent a fire from consuming your home. But then traffic congestion hits you and the trains are all but functioning.
You arrive home and the smell of burning plastic wafts around your place, and the heat from the fire now becomes more real. You were able to fight the fire with your handy fire extinguisher, only to find a quarter of your house has now turned to ashes.
Now, imagine if you have the ability to turn off your oven remotely from your workstation through your mobile phone. This removes all the hassle and the stress that potentially comes from such a mishap.
This is the power of the Internet of Things (IoT), a concept that subscribes to the idea that all things are connected to and through the Internet, creating endless possibilities of remote usage and personalized functionality.
But while this is possible today, the Philippines, as with most parts of the developing world, is still far from seeing this, as IoT requires extremely fast Internet connections to work properly.
5G, experts here and around the globe say, will be the very bedrock of this concept, as it is expected to deliver speeds that are up to 100 times faster than what people experience today.
The fifth generation of cellular mobile communications, 5G is a software-defined network that essentially removes the need for cables and wires, as most of its power will come from the cloud, making it better in terms of speed and capacity than 4G.
Telecommunications companies in the Philippines are gunning to commercially launch their own 5G services this year, each touting their partnerships and the remarkable steps they have taken to ready their networks for this new wave of technological advancement. Ready, set…wait
BUT is the country really ready to start offering this new technology this year, given that the two incumbent telcos are aggressively developing their own brands of 5G?
Pierre Tito M. Galla, an electronics and communications engineer, does not think so. He ranks the country’s 5G readiness as “low,” given the current state of telco infrastructure in the country.
“5G readiness requires ultradense radio networks. Unfortunately, [with] our current state of tower and cellular density, we are just barely 2G-ready, with 3G [neither] completely available nationwide nor operating anywhere close to 3G design speeds,” he told the BusinessMirror.
Out of 77 countries, the Philippines ranked 6th from the bottom of the list in terms of average 4G download speeds in Opensignal’s latest data for 2019. With only 19 Megabits per second (Mbps) of average 4G speed, the Philippines is still struggling to provide good mobile experience to its cellular users due to the lack of telco infrastructure.
This may prove to be another challenge in opening up 5G opportunities in the Philippines because in order to operate 5G effectively, tower buildup should be as contiguous
as possible, with the minimum range of towers now pegged at 500 feet apart.
Based on a study made by TowerXchange—an independent community for operators, tower companies, investors and suppliers interested in emerging-market telecom towers—the Philippines lags behind its neighbors in Asia when it comes to cell-site build.
The number of unique physical cell sites in the Philippines is one of the lowest in Asia, with a combined 19,000 towers. Demand for cellular towers in the country is pegged at 70,000 sites.
China has the highest number with 1.18 million cell sites, followed by India with 450,000 and Indonesia with 76,477 cell sites; while Vietnam has 55,000; Thailand 52,483; Pakistan 28,000; Bangladesh 27,000; and Malaysia 22,000 sites.
With over 110 million mobile subscribers from the duopoly of PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc., the Philippines has the lowest tower density score in Asia, with a meager 0.14 to the 1.43 of China, Asia’s current giant.
The Philippines neither has enough nor dense tower infrastructure to operate a continuous 4G network connection, and 5G’s high infrastructure requirement will prove to be a huge challenge for telcos.
Need for more towers for 5G TELCOS are not entirely to be blamed for the lack of telecom infrastructure in the Philippines. For many years, the two incumbents have been citing the long list of bureaucratic red tape as the culprit behind this problem.
Even Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Acting Secretary Eliseo M. Rio Jr. admitted that the problem of tower build really lies on the need to secure over two dozen permits from different government agencies, including local government units.
“There are too many permits that telcos need to comply [with] in our country that other countries do not require. In fact, in some of these countries their governments will give them one or two things that they have to comply with, then they can proceed with the building of towers. Here, they need about 27 permits before they can even start building their towers,” he said.
This means that telcos would need about eight months to comply with the requirements, acquire the right-of-way and complete the construction of one single tower.
Addressing this issue has been a top priority of the ICT department for the last 12 months. Since December, Rio has been signing almost week after week memoranda of understanding with various foreign and local tower companies in order to hasten telco infrastructure construction.
Under the deal, the tower companies will partner with the telco players—now including the budding third telco players—to pinpoint the locations of the towers that they need. The ICT department will then facilitate the security of all necessary permits from a one-stop shop that the government will set up in seven days.
The towers that will be erected will be open for any player who would want to deploy their radio transmitters on the infrastructure.
So far, the government has signed deals with 11 common tower providers, namely: IHS Towers, Edotco, Isoc Infrastructure, iSON Towers, China Energy Equipment, Rt Telecom Sdn. Bhd., Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., MGS Construction Inc., Frontier Tower Associates Management Pte. Ltd., GNI-Tower Inc. Consortium and the American Towers Inc.
“We will come up with an interagency committee to set up a one-stop shop for permits. These include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Health, and all others that give permits. As for the local government units, we will have to persuade that this infrastructure initiative is that of national interest,” Rio said.
He added: “This is the first time that we’re going into this kind of regime, so there will be learning curves here and there.”
The government’s target is to set up as many as 50,000 towers to complement the existing ones in government properties to remove the need for right-of-way acquisition.
“We will use, as much as possible, national real estate. For the DICT alone, we have 1,000 locations where they can put up towers. We also have more than 20,000 public schools, which can get free Wi-Fi because of this initiative,” Rio noted.
This, he added, will result in an increase in tower density to 0.5, half of the “ideal” tower density score of 1.0, which translates to one tower per 1,000 subscribers.
“Our situation is our telcos have been existing for the past 20 years and they were able to come up with less than 20,000 towers in that time period. With 5G on the awning, we need more towers, and we need to get to the tower density score of 0.5 the fastest way possible,” Rio said.
Already, industry stakeholders have been meeting for two weeks to discuss the possible locations of the new towers that will be built for this year.
“We have 15 days for us to come up with the number of towers and their locations for this year; and relating it also with the number of towers that the government has that can be made available. With these locations the mobile network operators can now come up with their tenders,” Rio said.
By March, a concrete list of locations and the number of towers needed for 2019 should be ready.
“The telcos will reconcile the list with our real estate, and then we will come up with a framework for that. This will result in approximately 3,000 towers in the first year. These will be given out to the 11 tower companies so they can give us their best offer for the locations,” he added.
This initiative will be a precedent to a solid common and shared infrastructure policy that the government is currently crafting.
Secretary Rio and Ramon P. Jacinto, the presidential adviser for ICT, are at odds, however, with the specifics of the proposed policy. For Rio, Jacinto’s insistence on capping the number of tower providers would hinder the industry from attaining the development that it needs to really see the 5G vision come to life, and provide better services to consumers.
“Insofar as mobile 5G is concerned, operators know that 5G will require more tower density, which is a huge challenge for the Philippines at the moment due to the permitting issues. We are hopeful that the final terms of reference on the common tower policy be released soon so that interested parties and telco operators can start collaborating on the infrastructure build, as this will definitely take time,” Globe Spokesman Yolanda C. Crisanto said.
Telcos race for first 5G in PH DESPITE these challenges on infrastructure, 5G will be available in the Philippines this year—at least that’s the promise of local telco players. However, their primary focus is not on mobile, due to infrastructure limits, but rath-
Out of 77 countries, the Philippines ranked 6th from the bottom of the list in terms of average 4G download speeds in Opensignal’s latest data for 2019. With only 19 Mbps of average 4G speed, the Philippines is still struggling to provide good mobile experience to its cellular users due to the lack of telco infrastructure.
er, they will launch 5G services in two very different sectors: the home and enterprise.
For Globe, the 5G game in the Philippines will start with a home broadband service that will deliver faster speeds through the cloud.
“We will do commercial launch of 5G for home by the second quarter of this year. Since it is not yet a mobile rollout, we are confident we will have a successful launch,” Crisanto said.
Globe has partnered with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics manufacturer, to deploy its first 5G product. Called Fiber Air, this product makes use of fixed location wireless radios instead of fiber to provide speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps.
It will be initially rolled out in urban areas, mainly in Metro Manila, where Globe’s tower infrastructure is more contiguously built.
Smart Communications Inc., on the other hand, has fired up the first two 5G cell sites in the country with the intent of developing solutions and applications for businesses in Makati City and Clark Freeport Zone.
Smart partnered with Huawei to fire up the cell site in Makati, while it tapped Ericsson for the initiative in Clark.
With 5G cell sites now live and on-air, Smart is set to test 5G’s powerful platform to develop solutions such as autonomous vehicles, connected fleets, smart buildings and factories, and be able to deliver 5G services to customers “soon.” Legislative support
FOR electronics and communications engineer Galla, the 5G initiative is not entirely hinged on infrastructure build; it also needs policies and laws that will ensure the quicker deployment of better telco services in the country.
“We need to pass the Open Access in Data Transmission bill and, thus, encourage rapid infrastructure rollout, particularly high-density last-mile data networks, which will be needed for ultra-dense 5G networks,” he said.
Sponsored by Sen. Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, the bill essentially promotes competition by removing requirements to enter into the data transmission business. This results in the faster authorization and registration of industry players, a technology-neutral framework, a fair and open competition in all segments of the network, and a mandated interconnection among providers.
It also aims to promote transparency in pricing, an equitable management of spectrum, and infrastructure sharing. Essentially, these provisions will lower barriers and cost to entry for data service providers, while promoting seamless connectivity, and the efficient use of resources.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III held out hopes the Upper House could pass the Open Access in Data Transmission bill when plenary sessions resume from May 20 to June 7.
“It’s possible,” Sotto told the BusinessMirror on February 20.
The Senate President clarified, however, that the bill is “still in the period of amendments.”
“My personal assessment is, [it’s a] touch and go situation,” Sotto added, but did not elaborate.
But Aquino, chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, hopes the Open Access bill will be passed when Congress reconvenes in May.
Aquino confirmed that the bill is still in plenary interpellation period, adding he’s optimistic there would be “majority support for prioritizing its deliberations and approval in the Senate” when the sessions resume.
The senator added that “advocacy groups for better internet have been working with us to help ensure that questions and clarifications regarding the bill coming from senators are resolved before session resumes.”
At the same time, the senator confirmed that their House colleagues were also working on a counterpart bill.
“In fact, the House bill has already been approved on third reading,” Aquino said, adding that its principal sponsor in the Lower House is Tarlac Rep. Victor A. Yap. Spectrum management GALLA believes the 5G tack would fly if there is spectrum management reform.
“We also need to pass a spectrum management reform for equitable frequency allocation,” he said.
Spectrum management involves the evaluation of frequencies assigned to telco players, their possible re-farming, and their possible reallocation. Based on government data, PLDT holds 400 megahertz of the total spectrum holdings, while Globe has rights to 325 MHz.
What remains is a swathe of 225 MHz of frequencies in the 700 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2.5 gigahertz, 3.3 GHzand 3.5 GHZ bands. These will be allocated to the future third player.
The amount of spectrum assigned to a telco has an impact on the cost of the build capacity, overall network performance, ability to offer new multimedia services and general customer experience of wireless services.
Last, Galla said the government needs to “promote competition to spur ICT infrastructure development, particularly in rural areas where network density is not only insufficient but often insignificant.”
“If the status quo does not change, we may be 10 years behind the rest of the world,” he said.
A sad scenario that would be, given the enthusiasm with which the existing telcos are touting their planned rollouts. And given what the Philippines’s consumers have been missing out on all this time.
Indeed, going back to the original case of the absent-minded office worker with no means to use his smartphone to control his home appliances, another decade’s wait could also mean more houses burned down.