Globe budgets P10.8M to boost signal in posh villages

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom Inc., is spending as much as $250,000, (P10.8 million) per village to improve its wireless signal in posh subdivisions.

Emmanuel Estrada, head of Network Technologies Strategy of Globe, said the company is in talks with several exclusive villages in Metro Manila that reject the construction of cell sites in their subdivision premises.

Estrada said Globe has introduced the use of cell sites disguised as palm trees to address aesthetic concerns over the use of towering cell sites that are necessary in effecting seamless connectivity in exclusive villages.

The offer to build palm-like cellphone towers follows the introduction of the outdoor distributed antenna system (ODAS), a state of the art technology that makes use of specialized lamp posts built with radio signal transmission capability.

“The use of tree-shaped cellphone towers is part of Globe Telecom’s efforts to improve wireless signal in exclusive villages in line with our network transformation initiative,” he stressed.

He pointed out that Globe has utilized aesthetic tree solution in enhancing connectivity in Urdaneta Village in Makati City.

He explained that the use of palm-tree cellphone towers is most effective in camouflaging gigantic cell sites that are sometimes considered as eye sores by some residents in exclusive villages.

“The disguised cell phone towers will be difficult to identify as such and they even work to beautify the area where these infrastructures are installed,” Estrada said.

Certain residents in exclusive villages have been opposing the installation of cell sites in their respective areas, citing aesthetic concerns over such infrastructures.

Still, cell sites are critical in providing seamless connectivity, Estrada stressed.

The ODAS solution uses fiber-optic cables to distribute a base station’s signals to multiple low power active antenna systems installed in nominal locations inside residential subdivisions. 

It also supports all frequency bands used by wireless carriers, including the cutting edge long-term evolution (LTE) technology, providing stronger support for mobile data services.

The ODAS solution has been effectively deployed in Dasmarinas Village also in Makati City.

Estrada said Globe is addressing the connection gap in 300 zones in major areas in Metro Manila after the completion of its $700 million network modernization and transformation project.

Estrada said the company hopes that the entire National Capital Region (NCR) will be provided with fourth generation (4G) technology within the year and the entire nationwould have 3G coverage by end-2014.