Globe seeks additional frequencies for broadband

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom is asking the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for the grant of additional frequencies as part of its bid to expand its broadband offerings.

Globe network technologies strategy head Emmanuel Estrada said they have applied for additional bandwidths that include a pair of 20 Mhz bandwidth in the 700 Mhz spectrum, 10 Mhz in the 2100 Mhz range and another 10 Mhz of 3G frequency.

 “We will be using this for broadband service,” Estrada said.

Globe earlier announced that it is eyeing the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology for the telecom firm’s mobile broadband offering. “However, the limited spectrum and devices with enough capabilities are stopping us from completely rolling out the service,” Estrada said.

The telecom firm has just completed the first phase of LTE tests done in partnership with Japan-based NEC Corp. The 164 trials completed in three-and-a-half weeks achieved up to 60 Mbps downlink data throughput rate at 10 Mhz bandwidth.

The Phase 1 field trial verified a variety of LTE functions required for commercial service under field environment, such as quality of service, latency and hand-over within urban mobile environments in Makati and Quezon City.

LTE, which can operate in the 1.4 Mhz, 3 Mhz, 5 Mhz, 10 Mhz and 20 MHz bandwidths, is a high-performance air interface for cellular mobile technology. It addresses the demand for higher data rates and increased quality of service and enables users to experience the fastest mobile broadband service up to 100 Mbps.

 “We are now seriously working with the NTC for the frequency allocation so we can pursue this new technology. As we see mobile broadband growing and more subscribers clamoring for faster and higher bandwidths, LTE will help us meet the customers’ demand and further improve our broadband service offering in the near future,” Estrada said.

As of end-September 2010, the broadband subscriber base of Globe reached over one million, doubled the 517,355 broadband subscribers reported in the same period last year.