Globe LTE nears 95% nationwide coverage
Globe Telecom is closing in on its target of deploying LTE service to 95 percent of cities and municipalities nationwide by the end of the year.
The target is part of the company’s commitment to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) when it was granted co-use of the 700 MHz, 2600 MHz, and other spectrum bands, following the acquisition of 50 percent of San Miguel’s telecommunications assets in 2016.
Globe senior vice president for program governance Joel Agustin said the new spectrum assets enabled the company to fasttrack the rollout of LTE service nationwide.
As of the third quarter, Globe has deployed close to 12,000 LTE cell sites us- ing 700 MHz, 2600 MHz, and other spectrum assets, in which almost 3,000 are equipped with 700 MHz and over 3,700 are powered by 2600 MHz.
Agustin said the LTE sites cover major business districts and highly-urbanized and populated areas in the Philippines, as customers using LTEcapable devices are steadily increasing in these areas.
He said about 50 percent of new LTE site deployments during the year were in NCR/GMA region, 35 percent in North Luzon and South Luzon, and about 15 percent in Visayas and Mindanao.
“We are confident that more and more Filipinos will experience improved internet services as adoption of LTEcapable devices increases and as we continue to deploy LTE coverage in more cities and municipalities,” Agustin said.
According to Globe, its aggressive deployment of LTE sites has led to significant improvement in the Philippines’ 4G LTE availability.
Citing results of an OpenSignal report for March, Globe said it was able to retain its position of having the highest 4G LTE availability nationwide as its customers were able to access the service 67.5 percent of the time.
Globe also fired up almost 300 massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) sites through the use of high-band spectrum 2600 MHz.
The technology is seen to provide vast mobile capacity, coverage, and reliability for 5G, which Globe is set to deploy at homes by the second quarter of next year.