Smart Communications Inc., the wireless subsidiary of PLDT Inc., is expected to complete its 3G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) rollout by early next year, covering 90 percent of the country.
The company said this is ahead of the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) three-yeartarget completion by end 2018 – a condition set by the regulator upon approving PLDT and Globe Telecom Inc.’s joint acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telco business.
“Our commitment to the NTC is to meet 90 percent municipality coverage next year for 3G and 4G mobile broadband, and we are well on-track to meet this,” said Joachim Horn, chief technology and information advisor for PLDT and Smart.
By yearend, Smart said, it is on track to finish the upgrade of more than 4,200 3G and LTE sites across the country as part of its network modernization effort.
“We are already at about 89 percent, so we will definitely meet that target early next year,” said Horn.
For the past year, Smart stepped up its mobile data rollout significantly, particularly for LTE. “This year, we more than doubled the number of sites which are capable of LTE,” said Horn, citing as an example Metro Manila, where about 90 percent of sites already have LTE.
Smart said improvements are already being felt throughout Metro Manila, citing internal tests in Parañaque which recorded median LTE download speeds of 17.9 megabits per second (Mbps) and median upload speeds of 12 Mbps, and in Caloocanwith median download and upload speeds of 27.6 Mbps and 16.1 Mbps, respectively.
In Taguig, Smart LTE posted median download speeds of 18.6 Mbps, while median upload speeds were at 13.7 Mbps, the company said.
Horn also noted “a second wave of upgrades” for Smart’s LTE sites – four-component carrier aggregation or 4CC. “We already tried this in Boracay, and we have just completed the upgrade of Marikina, where we have upgraded all base stations with 4-carrier aggregation,” he said.
“The benefit for the customer is much higher capacity, and much higher speeds. So if you go to Marikina, you will easily be able to achieve more than 100 Mbps – on your phone,” he added, noting the company intends to deploy this in Metro Manila in steps, with Quezon City as the next area.
Carrier Aggregation allows for the combination of two or more radio frequency bands to deliver bigger bandwidth and much faster data speeds to mobile users. 4CC aggregation features the combination of four separate spectrum blocks to deliver much greater capacity and speeds.
Horn said users have to use 4CC-capable devices and LTE SIMs to fully enjoy 4CC speeds.
Earlier this year, Smart activated 4CC in Boracay, reaching average speeds of 280 Mbps in initial runs using Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ 4CC carrier aggregation-capable smartphones available in the market.
After the initial deployment of 4CC technology in Metro Manila, Smart’s internal tests showed consistent delivery of speeds breaching 300 Mbps in a single-user scenario, and over 200 Mbps in a multi-user, daytime set-up.
“This only goes to show that we have put in place a network that is capable of providing these high speeds,” Horn said.
Smart reported completing its LTE deployment in Metro Davao and Metro Cebu, the island of Boracay and the province of Rizal. This is currently underway in Metro Manila and in key cities in other parts of the country.
Smart is also partnering with device vendors in providing more affordable LTE-capable smartphones in the market, as well as actively urging its customers to upgrade to LTE SIMs so they can maximize its LTE network.
The company recently launched an LTE SIM check via SMS program, where customers can text SIMCHECK to 5832 to check if their SIMS are LTE-capable already.
Source: http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/business/telco-complete-rollout-ahead-sked