Smart fires up LTE Advanced in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines - Just weeks after firing up Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) in Metro Manila, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) switched on the latest wireless technology in Cebu at the venue of an international conference bringing together leaders of the telecommunications industry.

Smart fired up LTE-A during the 10th Asian Carriers Conference (ACC) at Shangri-La Mactan. Hosted by PLDT, Smart, and Digital Telecommunications Philippines, the ACC is attended by about 1,500 delegates from the best and biggest telcos in the world. Earlier this year, Smart switched on LTE-A at the Jump Experience Center in SM Megamall.

 “Smart is the first Philippine telco and one of a handful of carriers in the world to turn on LTE-A, which is referred to in some countries as 5G technology,” said Smart public affairs head Ramon Isberto.

LTE-A surpasses LTE standards, delivering data from 100 mbps to one gigabit per second (Gbps). This is 10 times faster than 3G services and more than twice as fast as LTE. Smart pioneered the deployment of LTE in the Philippines two years ago, and has the largest LTE network in the country with close to 2,000 base stations.

“Our modernized network, which includes the most extensive and robust transmission infrastructure in the Philippines, enables us to deploy new technologies rapidly and easily, as we have done with 3G and LTE. Our infrastructure is ready for the foreseen onslaught of LTE-A devices and demand for LTE-A services,” said Smart technology head Rolando Peña.

With LTE-A, YouTube videos no longer have to buffer and video calls are almost lag-free. But beyond speed, LTE-A’s main feature is its capability to allocate more network resources to users when the need arises.

Smart started testing LTE-A across the country in August last year, delivering results of more than 100Mbps in Makati City, Boracay, and Davao City.

“The ACC is a good opportunity to show the telco industry that the Philippines is at par with other leading telcos in the world when it comes to mobile communications technology,” Peña said.

He added that LTE-A is part of the PLDT group’s suite of services designed to address the varying Internet needs of the Philippines’ market segments.  The group is deploying a combination of Fiber-to-the-Home, Next Generation Network, Time-Division Duplex LTE, Frequency-Division Duplex LTE and vDSL for  Filipino homes, and 3G, LTE, and LTE-A for mobile subscribers.

The PLDT group’s 90,000-kilometer fiber optic cable connection, which is more than four times the competition’s, enables PLDT, Smart, and Digitel to provide nationwide coverage for these services, Peña said.