OVER the next three months, Smart Communications Inc. will undertake a “major” network expansion in Metro Manila to improve the coverage and quality of its voice, text and mobile Internet services.
Joachim Horn, who sits as chief technology and information advisor at Smart, said his group will deploy new base-station equipment in about 2,500 cell sites across Metro Manila.
These base stations will use low-frequency bands, such as 700 megahertz (MHz), 850 MHz and 900 MHz for its LTE and 3G services, since these frequency bands cover a larger area and provide better indoor signals.
Once completed, the rollout is expected to significantly boost the reach of Smart’s LTE and 3G mobile data services across all 17 of the cities and municipalities in Metro Manila.
The biggest gain will be in indoor LTE coverage, which will quadruple, while indoor 3G coverage will double in Metro Manila, the country’s capital and also the most densely populated area.
“Smart is rolling out the fastest and most powerful mobile-data network in the country. We are focused on improving indoor coverage since we know people use mobile Internet services mostly indoors, particularly in Metro Manila—in their homes, offices, restaurants, coffee shops and the like,” Horn said.
The rollout also includes deploying high-frequency bands, like 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz, to increase the capacity of each Smart cell site to handle more calls, texts and ever-increasing mobile-data traffic.
This project forms part of Smart’s three-year network-modernization program, which started in early 2016.
It has deployed numerous base stations in Boracay and Metro Davao, and is currently setting up a number of cell sites in Metro Cebu.
Horn said Smart intends to bring the rollout to other parts of the Philippines to significantly improve the mobile-Internet experience of the rest of its user base.
“We are accelerating our LTE deployment because LTE, an all-IP network, delivers a superior experience to customers, particularly for data,” he said, referring to Internet protocol.
Smart is also working closely with handset manufacturers to bring more affordable LTE handsets to the Philippine market.
“LTE provides us the right platform to bring high-speed mobile Internet throughout the country. LTE facilities, with strengthened transport links, can be quickly upgraded to LTE-Advanced, or LTE-A, which can provide greater capacity and faster data speeds,” Horn said.
According to a document submitted to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Smart will make LTE progressively available to users in 1,551 cities and municipalities across the country by end-2018.
The plan includes the use of the 700-MHz frequency that Smart obtained access to under a co-use arrangement, after the co-acquisition of the telecoms business of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) by PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. in May 2016.
“We are also focused on ensuring that our current investments in network facilities will enable us to be ready for 5G when it arrives sometime in 2020,” Horn said.
As part of preparing for future advances in technology, Smart broke a new record late last year when, in a demo done together with Nokia, it achieved 5G speeds of 2.5 gigabits per second for the first time in the Philippines.
“This is a key part of our efforts to transform the PLDT and Smart network into the country’s most future-ready data infrastructure, delivering a wide range of gigabit digital solutions,” Smart Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.