GLOBE Telecom Inc. would become the first Philippine telecommunications company to adopt the TV white space (TVWS) frequency for broadband use in line with its commitment to improve the state of Internet in the country. A statement by Globe last week said it expects this move “to maximize available spectrum, given rapid increases in data consumption amid growing smartphone penetration.” The listed telco said it is currently testing the use of the frequency for broadband service in several areas in the country, including Bohol and Cebu.
According to Emmanuel Estrada, Globe senior vice president for Network Technologies Strategy, the move comes as “building a cell site has proven to be a major challenge for us and we couldn’t build cell sites as fast as we want to.”
“We hope that making use of available spectrum would enhance bandwidth capacities and allow our network to transmit enormous amount of data at faster speeds,” Estrada added, noting that construction of a single cell site involves about 25 permits with at least eight months of lead time.
He said another obstacle in rolling out broadband service in rural areas is that the concentration of establishments and households does not make it economically viable for telecommunication providers to deploy broadband facilities. The TVWS technology is expected to address this concern, Estrada said.
“TVWS is considered an ideal wireless data delivery medium in the Philippines because of its long-distance propagation features and the ability of its signals to travel over water and through thick foliage,” he explained. “The latest TVWS equipment can deliver up to 10 megabits per second [Mbps] of data throughput at a maximum range of 10 kilometers and can accommodate numerous customers at any given time.”
Estrada said increasing demand for wireless data traffic and growing pressure to network capacity has spurred an interest to use these unallocated portions of the radio spectrum. The TVWS’s long range of reach means utilization of this frequency for broadband use would require less number of cell sites to provide coverage for a given geographic location, compared with existing wireless technologies, he explained. “This means that the use of the TVWS spectrum for propagation of broadband technologies is more cost efficient for Internet-service providers.”
TVWS refers to the either unassigned or unused frequencies between broadcast TV channels, which can be used to provide wireless-data connectivity to remote communities in the country. These vacant frequencies are between broadcast TV channels in the ultrahigh frequency (UHF) and very high frequency (VHF) range of 54 megaHertz (mHz) and 806 mHz. “Utilizing TVWS for propagation of Internet service is relatively a new technology, as TV broadcast began transitioning from analog to digital, paving the way for the availability of more TV channels or frequencies that could be utilized for broadband use,” Estrada said.
Science Undersecretary Louis Casambre, for his part, said there is a need to enhance Internet service in the provinces, stressing the use of the TVWS for broadband use would provide data connectivity among local government units and national agencies, hospitals and health centers, as well as among educational institutions in rural areas.
The ongoing TVWS pilot testing in the country is the most extensive in the Asian region. So far, only the United States has already undertaken commercial deployment, while many other countries are holding trials.