Capex program enters 3rd year

Working with world-leading technology partners, Smart has accelerated its deployment of LTE fourthgeneration mobile technology (4G).

After extensive preparatory work in 2016, Smart more than doubled the number of LTE base stations in 2017 to over 8,700 from the previous year, and increased the number of cell sites equipped with LTE base stations by about 60 percent to over 4,300.

To complement its LTE deployment, Smart also added more 3G base stations in 2017, raising the total to about 9,850.

It also increased the number of cell sites equipped with 3G base stations to about 7,500.

Base stations refer to the radio equipment that operate on a specific frequency band such as 700 Mhz, 1800 Mhz or 2100 Mhz. Cell sites refer to the towers or structures that house several of these bases stations.

Smart also improved its signal coverage inside high-rise buildings through the installation of Indoor Building Solutions (IBS) in over 100 structures in 2017.

In this LTE and 3G deployment, Smart is using the radio frequencies it has gained access to through the acquisition of the telecoms business of San Miguel Corporation (SMC).

These include the valuable lowband 700 MHz and 900 Mhz frequency bands which provide better reach and indoor coverage, as well as the 1800 Mhz and 2300 Mhz bands which deliver additional capacity.

The number of base stations using these frequencies reached over 2,000 in 2017 and will more than triple to nearly 9,000 base stations by end-2018 or early 2019 latest.

Currently, these frequencies are already serving around 24 million Smart, TNT and Sun subscribers in various parts of the country.

The impact of Smart’s accelerated LTE network roll-out is evident in the rising LTE data traffic nationwide which by end-2017 grew 204 percent compared to the previous year. The number of LTE devices being used in the Smart network doubled in the same period.