Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. on Tuesday announced an ambitious network expansion program in a bid to outshine rival Globe Telecom Inc., which has been eating up on its market share.
PLDT and Smart chief technology and information advisor Joachim Horn told reporters the company would spend P25 billion this year to expand its mobile network, including the integration of Smart and Sun networks, rollout of 3G and long term evolution as well as deployment of LTE-Advanced mobile service.
PLDT has programmed P43 billion in capital expenditures this year.
“It’s a very ambitious project. Our key focus is improving customer service whether in 3G, LTE or even in 2G,” Horn said.
PLDT spokesman Ramon Isberto said the network expansion program of the company would “improve or hopefully will be able to keep our customers loyal and win more customers. “
PLDT’s subscriber base stood at 65 million last year, down by 5 million from 69 million in 2014, while that of Globe Telecom reached 52.9 million, up by 20 percent from 44 million subscribers a year ago.
Horn said the integration of Smart and Sun networks was expected to be completed by the end of 2016 or early 2017 and improve network coverage from 50 percent to 100 percent.
He said PLDT would give specific attention to enhancing 3G/HSPA/HSPA+ coverage and capacity because about 90 percent of Smart and Sun subscribers who go online use 3G handsets.
“Improving our 3G data service thus delivers immediate benefits to the largest number of people in our subscriber base. At the same time, we have been expanding the coverage of our LTE network because the number of subscribers using LTE phones is steadily rising,” Horn said.
PLDT Group’s LTE penetration rate stood at 45 percent, while 3G was 89 percent.
“We will probably double LTE coverage by next year,” Horn said.
Horn added Smart had begun to roll out the country’s first LTE-Advanced service, which could provide significantly higher data speeds than existing LTE services using a capability called “carrier aggregation.”
Initially deployed in Boracay, Aklan, one of the country’s leading tourist destinations, Smart’s LTE-A service there posted speeds of up to 260 Mbps.
“With the introduction of our LTE-Advanced service, the next stage of development of 4th generation of mobile technology, Smart is again at the technology forefront, setting the bar higher for mobile service experience,” Joachim said.
Smart joins the short list of operators around the world that have tested and rolled out the technology, which is also referred to as 4.5G. The list includes Optus in Australia, Sprint in the US and Turkcell in Turkey.
“Combined with our other network improvement initiatives for both our mobile and fixed line networks, the introduction of LTE-A will help boost internet services in the country and enable more Filipinos to enjoy and benefit from the fast-growing range of digital services that PLDT and Smart offer,” he said.