LTE subscription seen to rise to 70%

Long Term Evolution (LTE) subscriptions in the Philippines are seen to increase to 70 percent of total subscription in 2022 from 10 percent at present as telcos continue their aggressive spending in network upgrades, Ericsson said.

Sean Gowran, head for Ericsson Philippines and Pacific Islands, said in a briefing, LTE technology is expected to have dominant access globally by 2018, based on the latest Ericsson Mobility Report.

As LTE becomes the dominant wireless technology, 3G subscriptions in the Philippines would decrease to 30 percent of total subscriptions in 2022 from the current 40 percent.

Gowran said very few would remain on 2G by 2022 even as the technology currently accounts for the bulk of the subscriptions in the country.

He said the network upgrades and rollout of LTE in more areas by the telcos would drive the increase in LTE adoption.

“Both Smart (Communications Inc.) and Globe (Telecom Inc.) are investing somewhere between 28 and 30 percent of their revenue back into network development. Global average is slightly below 20 percent,” he said.

Aside from increasing the number of LTE users, he said the telcos’ investments in network upgrades are also expected to enable customers to experience improved internet speeds.

According to Ericsson’s report, the probability of a user achieving the minimum required network speed for web browsing, video streaming and high definition video streaming showed improvements in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago.