Smart Communications said it has completed its most recent round of network upgrades in Metro Manila with the roll-out of LTE and LTE-A network.
Other areas like the cities of Manila and Makati should expect the latest round of network improvement efforts are expected to be completed by October.
Smart has deployed carrier aggregation technology across all of Metro Manila’s 17 cities and municipalities, paving the way for much greater speeds in Metro Manila, where over 12 million Filipinos work and live. In Quezon City and Marikina, Smart has also deployed 5-component carrier (5CC) aggregation, where speeds of more than 500 Mbps have been reached using capable devices.
Smart has deployed over 2,000 LTE sites across Metro Manila, which use low-frequency bands such as the 700 MHz band for wider coverage and better indoor penetration, and high-frequency bands like 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands for additional capacity. To date, more than 92% of sites in Metro Manila have already been upgraded with LTE.
Smart is also installing multiple LTE base stations in existing cell sites to lay the ground for LTE-A, which can provide even greater capacity and speeds to users with capable smartphones. Carrier aggregation, on the other hand, is a feature of LTE-A that allows the combination of two or more radio frequency bands in order to deliver bigger bandwidth and much faster data speeds to mobile phone users.
Mario G. Tamayo, SVP for Network Planning and Engineering, PLDT
In addition to our continuous investments in upgrading our network to improve customer experience in Metro Manila and across the country, we are also working with device manufacturers to make more LTE and LTE-A-capable devices available in the market.
