Smart Communications(Smart), a subsidiary of PLDT and the leading mobile operator in the Philippines has begun to roll out the country’s first LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service which boasts speeds of 260 Mbps, leveraging carrier aggregation. The service is initially deployed in Boracay, Aklan, one of the country’s leading tourist destinations.
The operator is aggregating three frequencies to enable the speed on the LTE-A network, which is also commonly known as 4.5G. The service is currently supported on a number of LTE-A capable devices include the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.
In addition, the operator together with Sun, another subsidiary of PLDT has embarked on a network integration program which started last year to synergize their networks to improve the coverage and quality of service for the subscribers of both brands using 2G, 3G and LTE capable devices.
Joachim Horn, Chief Technology and Information Officer, PLDT & Smart
Wireless technologies being a shared resource, the actual customer experience is typically less than the peak speeds being registered during tests. But, carrier aggregation on LTE-A, by combining the capacities of two or more frequency bands, will enable Smart to deliver to subscribers with LTE-A devices consistently higher speeds than is possible using LTE.