By Emmie V. Abadilla
Globe Telecom yesterday announced it can deploy 5th generation technology (5G) in the country by the second quarter of 2019.
Globe Telecom logo. (Manila Bulletin)
The telco's top executives recently went to Shanghai, China, to discuss their 5G partnership with Huawei Deputy Chairman Eric Xu.
With the necessary assets already in place, Globe now focuses on completing the upgrade of its network – radio, transmission, core, and facilities – to support 5G by the end of the year.
A year ago, Globe started commercially deploying massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology, using 2CC carrier aggregation, which doubles LTE capacity.
This is meant to provide vast mobile capacity, coverage, and reliability for the 5G future.
“5G is an important building block for the Philippine economy’s competitiveness. This is the reason we are accelerating our efforts to deploy 5G so we can provide as many Filipinos as possible an access to the technology,” reasoned Globe Chief Technology and Information Officer Gil Genio.
With 5G, the Philippines can expect more companies entering the country, more employment opportunities, and higher equipment sales, among other economic benefits.
“5G will bring innovation and spur economic growth," he stressed.
"From the same physical network, we will be able to support different uses with varying performance requirements, in effect looking like different networks to different types of applications, from IoT to faster broadband to mission critical information. This will spur innovation and help various industries digitally transform."
Globe had announced plans to start offering the first 5G Globe At Home service by the second quarter of 2019.
While it is upgrading its network to support 5G, Globe is also pushing for the boundaries of 4G/LTE technology.
“5G will not operate as a standalone technology, at least not for the earliest use cases. How 4G/LTE integrates with 5G will determine the overall fixed wireless experience in the next few years,” Genio noted.
From 2014 until the first quarter of 2018, Globe spent over P139 billion, mainly for the expansion and upgrade of its network.
Huawei was also the technology partner of Globe when it implemented a $700-million network modernization program that began in 2011.
Back in November 2015, Globe signed a fresh five-year contract with Huawei, involving the planning and design of a mobile broadband network, as well as the creation of a mobile innovation center.