Sun Cellular ties up with Ericsson

Gokongwei-owned Sun Cellular has just entered into a partnership with Ericsson in a bid to further expand its cell site infrastructure and strengthen its nationwide network coverage, particularly in Visayas and Mindanao.

The expansion thrust is in line with Sun Cellular’s Phase IV infrastructure development as it increases its cell sites to more than 1,200 across the country to enable its subscribers with better nationwide coverage and clearer signal. Phase IV will overlap with Sun Cellular’s Phase III of infrastructure development that is ongoing until May 2004.

The turnkey agreement with Ericsson will provide for the supply, installation and commissioning of telecommunications equipment and solutions that will further enhance the quality of coverage and data delivery for Sun Cellular subscribers.

With Ericsson as its infrastructure partner for Phase IV, Sun Cellular will be enabled with the latest EDGE-ready solutions that will make the network ready for high quality data services to its customers to meet market demands, as well as build a solid foundation for Sun Cellular‚s fast development and smooth evolution to 3G networks in the future.

"We are pleased to have Ericsson as our infrastructure partner for this next phase of development," says Charles Lim, head of Sun Cellular. "We are confident that Ericsson‚s leading-edge technology and expertise will not only enable us to meet our goal of providing the highest quality service to our customers, but also will provide a sound platform for future expansion into EDGE and 3G services".

EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution) is a standardized set of improvements to the GSM radio interface that brings higher data rates and increased spectral efficiency for data services. EDGE triples the capacity of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), allowing operators to deliver Mobile Internet services requiring higher capacity and data speeds using their existing infrastructure.

Examples of services that could be offered to users over EDGE include streamlining media, logistic-based applications and mobile office applications that could enrich users‚ everyday lifestyle and efficiency at work.

Sun Cellular is the mobile brand of Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. (Digitel). Construction of its wireless network started in 2001. The wireless network of Sun Cellular is a digital Global Systems for Mobile (GSM) network operating on the 1800 MHz frequency band and has access to a total of 15 MHz of frequency for its wireless service.