Globe completes 1,064 new cell sites in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. has completed more than 1,000 new cell sites in the first nine months as part of efforts to support the government’s push for universal connectivity.

Globe delivered 1,064 cell sites in the nine months to September to expand its reach across the Philippines.

During the period, Globe upgraded 10,600 mobile sites to LTE and set up 1,887 new 5G sites to meet the growing demand for internet access among subscribers.

As such, Globe has disbursed P74.4 billion in capital expenditures as of September, of which 84 percent was spent on projects to improve customer experience. These undertakings include the enhancement of mobile sites to LTE, installation of new 5G sites and rollout of fiber to the home (FTTH) ports.

Further, Globe is on track to spend all of the P89 billion it allocated for capex this year. The Ayala-led telco, however, has no plans to raise its capex in 2023, as it eyes to practice prudence in the face of recessionary and inflationary risks.

At present, Globe has grown its FTTH lines by 40 percent to nearly 1.4 million as of September from just one million a year ago.

The mobile giant wants to hasten the deployment of fiber ports to improve the quality and speed of connectivity among its residential and business customers.

Globe head of network planning and engineering Joel Agustin said the firm expects to breach its total builds last year going by the pace of its network expansion.

“Globe’s network rollout momentum continues and it is expected to surpass last year’s builds. Our accelerated upgrading and network expansion efforts will not only deliver a consistent level of network quality, but will also elevate the standard of connectivity in the country,” Agustin said.

Agustin said Globe would invest on additional infrastructure to widen its presence across the archipelago. The firm has laid down fiber optic cables in multiple provinces since July in line with its landmark project to be activated by April 2023.