GLOBE ACTIVATES MORE 4G SITES
Globe Telecom completed the activation of new 4G cell sites in Baler, Aurora and Donsol in Sorsogon Province in line with a wider push to shift users from older 3G services.
Globe said in a statement that 4G or LTE would be the “the new standard of mobile data” in those areas starting April 6 this year.
“We highly encourage our customers who continue using a 3G SIM to update their SIMs to 4G LTE to have a better internet experience,” said Joel Agustin, Globe senior vice president for program delivery, network technical group.
“With the internet now an essential need, we want our customers to have a much better data experience,” he added.
While it considers 3G as an obsolete technology, Globe has yet to set any shut down date.
Faster internet
Globe CEO Ernest Cu had said much their rollout in the coming years would focus on 4G and the new standard, 5G, which promised even faster internet with minimal lag time.
Cu said Globe would also continue its 2G service, the backbone of communications in areas with poor mobile internet.
These upgrades are part of Globe’s record P70-billion capital spending program for the year.
This is about 16 percent more than its spending budget last year and will be mainly used to expand and improve Globe’s mobile and fixed-line networks through the construction of new cell towers and laying down fiber lines.
TOKYO—In Japan, convenience is king and getting tested for COVID-19 can be highly inconvenient. Part of solution, as it is for a range of daily necessities in Tokyo, has become the humble vending machine.
Eager to conserve manpower and hospital resources, the government conducts just 40,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests a day, a quarter of its capacity, restricting them to people who are quite symptomatic or have had a high chance of being infected.
That’s led to the public to rely heavily on private clinics or buying PCR tests by other means.
Vending machines selling test kits offer consumers the option of avoiding crowded clinics or having to wait for an appointment, said Hideki Takemura, director of the Laketown Takenoko Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic which has set up seven machines in the greater Tokyo area.
We had to do more so that people could be diagnosed early and isolate early
Hideki Takemura Director of the Laketown Takenoko ENT clinic
Testing needed
“Japan was conducting a ridiculously low number of PCR tests and as a result more and more people couldn’t tell whether they had a cold or the coronavirus,” Takemura told Reuters. “Without PCR tests, no diagnosis is possible and I really felt we had to do more so that people could be diagnosed early and isolate early.”
Takemura said there was a huge response from the public when the machines were first deployed and some needed to be emptied of money twice a day.
Demand has since ebbed somewhat as a third wave of cases subsided amid a state of emergency. New cases in Tokyo have averaged around 250 over the past seven days compared with several days of more than 2,000 in early January.
Sample by mail
Each vending machine holds about 60 testing kits which sell for 4,500 yen ($40). Customers then mail off a saliva sample for processing.
“As a medical worker, I’d be very happy if the number of tests decrease along with cases,” Takemura said.
Japan has about 4.1 million vending machines in operation, the most in the world per capita, according to a trade group.
In addition to vending machines, PCR tests have become increasingly available to the public via sales at drugstores or over the internet.