PHILIPPINE mobile-data speeds via 4G could significantly grow faster should smartphone manufacturers improve their hardware, and allow the use of so-called carrier aggregation, a ranking official of Smart Communications Inc. said last Sunday.
Mario G. Tamayo, senior vice president for network planning and engineering at Smart, said having a superior network is one thing, but using the right device is another to enjoy faster speeds in the 4G connectivity.
“Along with our commitment to roll out LTE-A nationwide, more LTE-A capable devices in the hands of more users is the other half of the key that will lift the mobile-data speeds in the country, and put the Philippines at par with the likes of Singapore and South Korea,” he said.
Tamayo was referring to LTE-Advanced—the fastest commercially available wireless technology for mobile data in the country today—which combines the power of two or more radio-frequency bands to deliver bigger bandwidth, hence faster data speeds.
Smart is deploying tech that enables the aggregation of two frequency bands (2CC), three frequency bands (3CC), and four frequency bands (4CC) and five frequency bands (5CC).
Smart has already fired up 3CC sites in cities across Metro Manila, as well as in major cities in other regions of the country. These include cities like Baguio City in Benguet; Santa Rosa, Calamba and Biñan in Laguna; the cities of Iloilo, Bacolod, Tagbilaran and Ormoc in the Visayas; and the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Dipolog and Zamboanga in Mindanao, to name a few.
It also recently fired up a 5CC site in Marikina City.
Tamayo said that, during a series of daytime tests done last week in a densely populated residential area of Marikina City using a Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone, a 5CC-capable device, Smart’s LTE-A network “consistently reached data rates of over 500 Mbps, hitting 558 Mbps at one point.”
“Our LTE-A deployment proves we have a network that’s capable of providing unprecedented data speeds and world-class Internet quality, and has enough capacity to efficiently meet the rapidly rising mobile data traffic,” he said.
He explained that 4CC aggregation will be rolled out in more areas where “there is a concentration of capable devices.”
For 2018 the telco committed to double the number of LTE base stations to about 17,700 and increase the number of LTE-equipped cell sites to more than 6,800 this year.
As of end-2017, Smart had more than 8,700 LTE base stations and over 4,300 LTE cell sites.
Base stations refer to the cellular radio equipment that run on specific frequencies, such as 700 megahertz, 1800 MHz or 2100 MHz, while cell sites are the towers or structures that house several of these base stations.
Tamayo said the company is also upping the ante by deploying another LTE-A based technology called 4×4 Multiple Input Multiple Output, which raises the radio frequency efficiency “by using multiple antennas for sending and receiving data.”
Currently, Smart holds the title of being the provider with fastest LTE speeds in the Philippines, basing its claim on data from Open Signal.
The think tank said average Smart LTE download speed across the Philippines was at 12.7 Mbps, up 38.5 percent year-over-year, and ahead of the competitor’s 7.5 Mbps.
1 comment
I hope Pres. Duterte will hurry with the 3rd Telco. All of these are excuses from the 2 giants just milking all cellphone users in this country. Look at the internet speed in other countries and the cost of using such services is much much lower than ours. 3rd or even 4th Telco should be pushed.