Smart continues to improve mobile data experience and LTE coverage

Customers in Metro Manila are now enjoying better mobile internet experience as PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) continues the roll-out of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) in the country’s main urban hub.

Smart has completed its most recent round of network upgrades in Metro Manila’s biggest city Quezon City, as well as in Marikina City, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon. In areas like the cities of Manila and Makati, for example, the latest round of network improvement efforts are expected to be completed by October.

Smart has also successfully deployed carrier aggregation technology across all of Metro Manila’s 17 cities and municipalities, paving the way for much greater speeds in Metro Manila, where over 12 million Filipinos work and live.

In Quezon City and Marikina, Smart has also deployed 5-component carrier (5CC) aggregation, where speeds of more than 500 Mbps have been reached using capable devices.

Smart has deployed over 2,000 LTE sites across Metro Manila, which use low-frequency bands such as the 700 MHz band for wider coverage and better indoor penetration, and high-frequency bands like 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands for additional capacity. To date, more than 92% of sites in Metro Manila have already been upgraded with LTE.

LTE is the best technology to help bring fast, affordable and reliable mobile internet services to customers. Smart is also installing multiple LTE base stations in existing cell sites to lay the ground for LTE-A, which can provide even greater capacity and speeds to users with capable smartphones.

“We are also working with device manufacturers to make more LTE and LTE-A-capable devices available in the market,” said Mario G. Tamayo, PLDT and Smart Senior Vice President for Network Planning and Engineering.

Customers can enjoy the upgraded network that Smart is putting in place in more areas with LTE and LTEA-capable smartphones such as the Huawei P20 series, Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, Huawei Mate 10, Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro, and Oppo F5, which are available with Smart.

Smart is on track to fulfilling its commitment to the National Telecommunications Commission to cover 90% of the country’s cities and municipalities with mobile data service by the end of this year.

Smart is doubling the number of LTE base stations to about 17,700 nationwide and raising the number of LTE-equipped cell sites to more than 6,800. Elsewhere in the country, Smart has successfully fired up LTE as far north as Batanes, Sagada and Cagayan, as well as in Palawan, Sorsogon, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Davao and Sarangani, to name a few.