Smart expands LTE network

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Communications Inc., one of the wireless units of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), now provides subscribers in the entire Metro Manila as well as several cities and municipalities all over the country with superfast mobile broadband.

PLDT-Smart head of technology Rolando Peña said in a statement that Smart’s fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) network is now present in over 170 cities and municipalities across the country including the provinces of Rizal, North Luzon, South Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

He added that Smart LTE also covers all 17 cities and municipalities of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela.

“We foresee how access to a reliable and pervasive LTE network can help create so many new ways for our subscribers to benefit from the technology. These benefits include access to multimedia entertainment, and the use of technology as a tool for education, health, governance, among others,” Peña said.

He explained that the increasing number of areas covered by Smart LTE allows subscribers using LTE-compatible devices to wirelessly access the Internet at speeds of up to 42 megabytes per second (Mbps).

This means enjoying movies or videos, uploading or downloading photos, among others, on their mobile device with no lag, no buffering, and no delays.