CEBU, Philippines — Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc., has covered at least 212 sites in the Visayas and 25 sites in Mindanao for its 5G technology as of the third quarter of 2022.
The company’s 5G network is now expanding and available to most of the population in Davao City, Cebu, Iloilo City, Zamboanga City, Cagayan de Oro City, Boracay, and Bacolod City.
The expansion of 5G technology in Visayas and Mindanao is intended to help bridge the digital divide between these regions and the rest of the country. It aims to support economic development and enable residents to access a wider range of digital services and opportunities.
According to Globe, the deployment is also beneficial to the growth of new industries and businesses in the said areas. It can inspire innovation and competitiveness as companies seek to provide the best possible services to their customers.
“We believe that the expansion of 5G technology in Visayas and Mindanao is essential for driving economic growth, supporting innovation, and providing access to fast and reliable digital services for residents and businesses in these regions. It will also help spur further investment and support the emergence of a vibrant and dynamic digital economy,” said Joel Agustin, Globe Senior Vice President for Network Planning and Engineering.
Agustin said as a pioneering provider of 5G technology in the Philippines, Globe is committed to delivering improved customer service and reliable, consistent data services to its customers.
By scaling up the rollout of its 5G network, Globe is taking a major step towards building a more connected and technologically advanced society in the Philippines. It is helping drive the adoption of 5G technology and paving the way for the next generation of digital innovation. 5G technology is capable of delivering internet speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G. It also has less lag, making it suitable for video streaming and gaming.
Meanwhile, Globe closed the first nine months of 2022 with P74.4 billion capital expenditure (capex), or 14 percent higher than last year to bring better communications services to its over 91.0 million customers nationwide. An eighty-four percent of this period’s total cash capex was allocated for data requirements to further enhance the overall customer data experience. These data requirements include additional LTE upgrades, new 5G sites, more tower builds, and a Fiber to the Home (FTTH) rollout.
With the Company’s bid to make fast and reliable connectivity pervasive and accessible to more households and businesses, close to 1.4 million FTTH lines were deployed as of end-September of 2022, versus over one million lines from a year ago.
Globe continues its efforts to provide free broadband fiber upgrades to its existing legacy broadband customers as part of its commitment to help bridge the digital divide among Filipinos.