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DESPITE
the current slack in use and acceptance of 3G services,
Smart Communications Inc. plans to expand the business
and offer “more complex” applications that require
bigger-frequency bandwidths.
These
new applications are said to be crucial in delivering
improved and enhanced services, especially in the fields
of education, medicine and security.
The
cellular company, however, needs more frequencies to
support a planned expansion of its 3G service. It wants,
and has asked, the National Telecommunications
Commission (NTC) to award it the 825-835-megahertz
(MHz)/870-880-MHz bandwidth.
“The
additional frequency band is necessary to enable Smart
to offer a new and expanded range of leading-edge and
high-speed data 3G services involving more complex
applications which require wider and bigger bandwidth
and faster data speeds,” said Smart legal head Enrico
Español.
The
additional 3G frequency bandwidths will support media
applications for video-streaming, videoconferencing,
creation and generation of user content, medical and
hospital remote medical diagnosis and teleradiology,
business functionalities, distance education or
e-learning, e-government, telemetry for
machine-to-machine applications, real-time and on-demand
security monitoring and surveillance.
“These
new services will allow the country to stand out in the
development and delivery of 3G services and, at the same
time, fulfill the NTC’s mandate of developing and
providing broadband or high-speed Internet access
nationwide,” Español added.
Smart
has urged the NTC for the additional bandwidths so it
could provide efficient service for the latest
developments in technology. As such, a broader bandwidth
becomes of paramount importance, the cellular company
said.
“These
new services will thus greatly assist the government in
achieving its national development goals. Moreover, the
additional frequency shall result in a substantial
increase in the spectrum users fee,” Smart added.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) president
Napoleon Nazareno said the phone giant intends to pour
money to “blanket” Metro Manila with 3G services. PLDT
is parent to Smart.
The
company has so far invested $60 million to $70 million.
It has deployed over 1,200 3G-enabled cellular sites.
There are over 1 million 3G Smart handsets in the local
market.
Smart
earlier appealed to the Board of Investments (BOI) to
reconsider its decision that delisted the 3G project
from enjoying tax holiday. It stressed that the 3G
project involves huge capital investment and would need
tax incentives to help subsidize the cost of
accelerating the deployment of 3G technology in
less-developed areas.
Smart
added that lifting the tax incentive for the project is
inconsistent with the 2005 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP)
and Executive Order 226.
“The BOI
has no power to disqualify any domestic-oriented or
market-seeking investment in the telco sector, or to
create or impose new disqualifications that are not
provided in the 2005 IPP, from [tax-incentive]
entitlement. For the BOI now to remove the [tax]
incentive is obviously contrary to and inconsistent with
the 2005 IPP and EO 226,” Smart said. |
