Globe hastens equipment modernization

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom, a joint venture between diversified conglomerate Ayala Corp. and SingTel, has already completed 30 percent of its equipment modernization under a $700-million five-year project.

Globe chief technical adviser Robert Tan said in a statement that the company is fast tracking certain areas to address strong consumer demand and clamor for better services.

After announcing the upgrade of its network facilities through the roll out of new equipment in various parts of the country last January, Globe has modernized at least 30 percent of its network equipment located in various cellsites nationwide.

“Overall, we are on target with the roll-out plan. Our goal is to have seamless change-outs of the network with as minimal impact on customer experience as possible. The improvements in our service quality will be felt by our customers in an increasing number of areas across the country as the network upgrade progresses towards completion,” Tan stressed.

Globe customers in South Luzon, the Davao Gulf provinces including Davao City as well as Compostela Valley now enjoy vastly-improved services such as quick call connections, rare dropped calls as well as faster and greater access to unli offers.

In addition, Davao City and adjacent provinces are now fully equipped with new generation mobile systems supporting high-speed data, which brings speeds up to 5 mbps.

The network modernization of Globe would also significantly enhance its 3G footprint in more towns and municipalities, translating to more stable 3G signal for customers as well improved mobile browsing experience. Globe is rolling-out over 10,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable, which will significantly increase capacity, resiliency and better traffic management to accommodate and protect more voice, SMS, and data traffic.

Tan noted that hand-in-hand with the total network change-out, Globe is also implementing mitigating measures to accommodate current voice, text and data traffic in heavy user areas.

“Even as we roll-out the modernization program for the network, Globe continues to invest in existing infrastructure to better serve our customers. We are, in fact, implementing measures to boost our 3G signal, particularly in high-traffic areas including Makati City,” he added.

Globe is also in the thick of a massive, multi-year modernization program that aims to beef-up Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and landline services nationwide.

The project costs over $70-million and forms part of the $700-million total network modernization investment of Globe.

To date, DSL services of Globe, known as Tattoo@Home, have been beefed-up in the National Capital Region. DSL upgrades in Southern Luzon and the Visayas are already underway.

Globe expects that more of its subscribers would be able to experience service improvements by the third quarter of 2012. These improvements include faster call connections, less dropped calls as well as faster sending and receipt of text messages.