Globe sees full optimization of network in June

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. expects to fully optimize its $700 million upgraded and modernized network in Metro Manila in June resulting in improved services to subscribers through less dropped calls as well as faster and more efficient delivery of text messages.

Peter Bithos, advisor and head of consumer business group of Globe, said in an interview with reporters during the launch of Samsung Galaxy S4 at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Makati City the upgraded network in Metro Manila would be fully optimized by June.

“We are looking forward to the next 60 days where we expect to optimize our new network in Metro Manila,” he stressed.

According to him, Globe completed the first phase of the $700 million project involving the replacement of the company’s cell sites with the newest state-of-the-art equipment as scheduled in the first quarter of the year.

He pointed out that the company has now moved to the next phase which is the optimization of the new equipment for maximum performance.

He added that the third phase involves delivering high speed Internet to the company’s subscribers.

Bithos said Globe is firing up several 4G and long term evolution (LTE) sites in Boracay, Cebu, and Davao within the year with the anticipated strong demand from subscribers.

In the first quarter Quality of Service Benchmarking test conducted by National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the grade of service of Globe deteriorated to 2.6 percent from two percent.

Blocked calls or grade of service refers to the percentage of calls that were not given access by the network or percentage of the network failure to establish connection between the caller and the receiver.

Globe passed the rating for dropped calls that refer to the number of on-going calls that were involuntarily terminated with a score of one percent. The NTC allows only two dropped calls for every 100 calls.

The tests conducted by NTC covering 17 cities in Metro Manila in the first quarter of the year involved a total of 1,500 calls each to determine whether network performance measured are within existing NTC and industry standards.

Globe yesterday launched the Samsung Galaxy S4 pairing the newest smartphone with its award-winning roster of fully-customizable postpaid plans – My Super Plan – giving subscribers the most flexible offers and best deals.

Bithos said the company is confident that the new Samsung Galaxy S4 would outsell the Samsung Galaxy S3 as it expects its post-paid subscriber base to continue posting double digit growth.

“We are growing faster than anybody else,” he said.

Globe reported a 30 percent drop in net income to P6.857 billion last year from P9.832 billion in 2011 due to higher expenses brought about by the 54 percent rise in capital expenditures as well as 86 percent jump in subsidies allowing subscribers to acquire new phones such as the iPhone5 at a lower cost.

Revenues went up by six percent to an all-time high P82.742 billion last year from a year-ago level of P77.76 billion. Mobile revenues rose six percent to P67.19 billion followed by broadband that grew 16 percent to P8.721 billion and fixed line data that increased 10 percent to P4.167 billion.