Globe launches SE Asia’s first fixed wireless 5G

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. has made the Philippines the first country in Southeast Asia to experience commercial fifth-generation (5G) fixed wireless broadband following the launch of the Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G postpaid plans.

The Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G postpaid plans, which offer fiber-like speeds up to 100 Mbps and super-sized data packages of up to two terabytes, will be initially available in select areas in Pasig, Cavite and Bulacan.

Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said the Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G would enable the company to connect more Filipinos at home given the external challenges of rolling out fiber optic cables in the country.

“The arrival of 5G has caused excitement in the global world of telecommunications. Today, we made a crucial step in fulfilling our goal of connecting more Filipino homes, and our vision of bringing first-world internet to the Philippines,” Cu said.

He said the Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G would also reinforce the efforts of achieving the company’s goal to connect two million homes by 2020.

“Prior to Air Fiber 5G, we have aggressively utilized fixed wireless solutions to connect more homes and businesses to the internet over airwaves.  This strategy resulted in home broadband subscriber base increasing by 55.1 percent to 1.7 million in the first three months of 2019 from 1.1 million in the same period in 2016,” Cu said.

5G technology enables internet connection that is faster, more secure and with lower latency which will significantly enhance entertainment and security systems at home.

“Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G makes use of fixed location wireless radios instead of fiber optic cables which enables the company to go over the circuitous approval process of deploying a fiber optic cable – a task which proves to be arduous and involves securing multiple permits from local government units.

The right of process can sometimes take years to obtain, causing drastic delays in fiber optic roll-out completion,” Cu said.

Cu said Globe has been spending over 21 percent of its annual total revenues to upgrade and expand its telecommunication and IT infrastructure since 2012.

“We have been ramping up our capital spend from P20.3 billion in 2012 to P43.3 billion in 2018, in order to provide our customers better broadband services,” he said.

Globe has earmarked P63 billion or about $1.2 billion for capital expenditures this year, 45.5 percent higher than the capex spent last year.

Globe rival PLDT Inc. is also planning to commercially launch its 5G this year, initially on its Home and Enterprise segments.