Smart activates cellsite in Batanes

Cellular leader Smart Communications Inc. has just activated the first GSM (global system for mobile communications) cellsite in Basco, Batanes, extending its mobile phone network to the country’s northernmost province.

Smart officials said this is part of the firm’s stepped up efforts to expand the coverage of its GSM network to include more distant and less accessible areas of the country. Smart is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).

"Travelers to that ruggedly beautiful island will now be able to use their Smart cellphones. As for Batanes residents, our GSM service will complement effectively the extensive network of Smart Link satellite phones that we have deployed in the various islands of Batanes province," according to Rolando Peña, head of Smart’s network services division.

Separated from the main island of Luzon by the Luzon Strait, the Batanes island group is one of the most remote areas of the country. It has one of the lowest population densities in the country (67.7 persons per square kilometer), but also has one of the country’s highest per capita income.

The province has been using various satellite phone facilities for its current communications needs. Smart, for its part, has deployed satellite phones which utilize the ACeS satellite system. Several Smart "Tawag Centers" are operating in the three biggest inhabited islands of the province – Batan, Itbayat, and Santang.

Peña said the rollout in Batanes is in line with the aggressive expansion of Smart in other remote areas. Just last month, it inaugurated its P220-million transmission backbone facility linking Palawan to the rest of the country.

Earlier this year, Smart put up cellsites in such towns as Banaue, Ifugao, site of the world-famous rice terraces, Mankayan, the "Copper Town" of Benguet province, and Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte

To support this expansion program, Smart recently signed contracts valued at more than $70 million with Nokia Networks for the installation of additional GSM facilities.

Smart is among the country’s leading wireless services provider with over 10 million subscribers as of June 2003 under its services Smart Gold, Smart Buddy, Addict Mobile and Talk ’N Text.