Smart inaugurates Makati GSM switch

Smart Communications, Inc. has fired up a new GSM mobile switching center in Makati City, raising its network capacity in the country’s premier business district alone by more than 220,000 subscribers.

In ceremonies held last week at the Smart Tower in Ayala Ave., Smart president and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno said the Makati switch was part of Smart’s P21-billion expansion program for its GSM network designed to further improve the quality of its mobile phone services all over the country.

Under a recent $200-million contract with Nokia Networks, the company aims to increase its subscriber base capacity to 10 million by 2002.

In his remarks, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay cited Smart’s new facility as an example of the kind of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) investment being encouraged by the city government. Makati 1st district Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. added that such initiatives are being supported through tax and other incentives in line with the city government’s efforts to develop Makati into a "techno-city."

The Makati GSM switch is composed of a mobile switching center (MSC), a home location register (HLR), a short message service center (SMSC), a prepaid service node, a transit mobile switching center, and a fiber optic transmission system. The network system equipment is supplied by Nokia Networks.

GSM switch facilities are the brains of a cellular network. Cellular call signals picked up by the nearest radio base station when a call is made are transmitted to the base station controller (BSC) which in turn relays the signal to the mobile switching center (MSC). The MSC then processes the call and sends it to the appropriate mobile network or fixed line destination.

Smart has applied innovative network solutions for varying coverage requirements to the city’s higher traffic communications needs. Early this year, it started rolling-out UltraSites, compact, higher capacity base stations all over the city for extensive outdoor coverage.