Globe to activate 4,300 LTE cell sites

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. is set to activate 4,300 cellular sites equipped with Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, beefing up its mobile data infrastructure to deliver faster and more reliable wireless Internet connectivity nationwide.

Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu said the company is continuously upgrading its network and expanding its LTE-Time Division Duplex (LTE-TDD) and LTE-Frequency Division Duplex (LTE-FDD) footprint to enhance speed of data transfer, provide lower latency, and increase overall network capacity.

“Upgrading our network capacity and expanding our LTE TDD/FDD network would make our network more robust and resilient to serve growing data requirement of our customers and enhance their digital lifestyle,” Cu said.

Globe earlier said it would spend as much as $650 million for its capital expenditures this year of which more than half would be used to beef up the capacity of its LTE network to provide faster Internet services to 43 million subscribers.

Since pioneering the LTE technology in the Philippines, Cu pointed out that Globe has been enhancing its wireless network infrastructure, focusing on the expansion of its LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD ultra broadband access technologies for a more pervasive LTE coverage.

“The two-pronged network expansion ensures reliable and fast mobile Internet service, allowing customers to experience seamless video streaming and post on their social media accounts anytime and anywhere,” Cu said.

The expansion, he explained, involves the activation of close to 2,000 cell sites with the LTE technologies as part of its continuing adoption of more advanced technologies to future-proof its network.

The growing pervasiveness of its LTE coverage would enhance and strengthen Globe’s mobile data service in major metropolitan areas such as Manila, Cebu, Davao and other key cities and tourist destinations in the country.

This would enable customers to explore and share online at faster Internet speeds.

Globe completed its $700 million network modernization initiative two years ago to deliver the most advanced network infrastructure in the country, putting in a brand new access, transport, and core network nationwide.

As part of the initiative, the company also completed a nationwide rollout of 4G network using the HSPA+ technology.

In addition to adequately serving its customers high data usage and enhan-cing their digital lifestyle, the company’s HSPA+ network also enables the company to provide the required and performance for the rapidly growing data consumption of business enterprises.

Globe also demonstrated proof-of-concept trials on LTE-CA and LTE eMBMS, which are latest LTE technologies as part of effort to stay ahead of its customers’ growing data requirement.

The LTE CA technology dramatically increases efficient utilization of frequencies and thus would enable Globe to aggregate spectrum for higher bandwidth capacity and improved customer experience.

The LTE eMBMS technology, on the other hand, will pave the way for efficient delivery of video and multimedia services using the company’s LTE network.