Mobile leader Smart Communications is undertaking a major expansion of its mobile internet coverage in Metro Cebu over the next three months as part of its three-year network improvement program that aims to bring high-speed internet service to 95% of the country’s cities and towns.
Under this plan, Smart is boosting the coverage of its LTE and 3G mobile data services in Metro Cebu. The biggest gain will be in LTE coverage, which will quadruple while 3G coverage will double in the country’s second largest urban center. Among other activities, this is being done by re-equipping its cell sites to use low-frequency bands such as 700 MHz, 850 MHz, and 900 MHz for its LTE and 3G services. These frequency bands travel farther than high-frequency bands thus providing mobile data services better coverage, including indoors.
“The activities we are implementing will greatly improve the reach and quality of our mobile phone and mobile internet services in Metro Cebu which is the central hub for business, education, and tourism in theVisayas region,” said Joachim Horn, chief technology and information advisor at PLDT and Smart.
“To achieve this, we are making a lot of changes in our network facilities. While we are doing everything possible to do this seamlessly, with the least impact on our customers, there may be bumps along the road. So, please bear with us as we work to make our services much better for you,” he added.
Smart started this network overhaul program in Metro Davao and will bring it to other parts of the country. Expanding LTE coverage is the cutting edge of this program because this mobile technology delivers the fastest wireless data service commercially available. In the three-year network roll-out plan that parent-company PLDT submitted to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) last July, Smart said it is focused on accelerating its LTE deployment, to make it progressively available to users in 1,551 cities and municipalities across the country by end-2018.
This new roll-out plan includes the use of the 700 MHz frequency band that Smart obtained access to under a co-use arrangement as a result of the acquisition of the telecoms business of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) by PLDT and Globe Telecom last May.
“Along with our massive LTE deployment, we are at the same time working closely with device makers to push more affordable LTE devices out into the market, so that more people can connect to and enjoy the speed and coverage of the network being put in place,” added Horn.
Even as LTE is the focus of the network improvement program in Metro Cebu, Horn added that it is just a part of a broader effort to improve the overall quality of service available to millions of Smart, TNT, and Sun subscribers in the entire Cebu province.
A nationwide network integration program, for example, which started last year and is scheduled for completion by the end of this year, will provide improved mobile phone coverage for both Smart and Sun subscribers. Metro Cebu is also among Smart’s initial deployment areas of the radio frequencies previously assigned to SMC. Using these new frequencies, Smart is not only expanding the reach or coverage of its network, it is also enhancing the capacity of each cell site to handle more calls, texts, and ever-increasing mobile data traffic.
“As with every major network improvement program, some of the changes we will implement in both hardware and software might result in some service disruption and affect small clusters of subscribers from time to time,” said Ramon Isberto, head of public affairs at PLDT and Smart. These activities are being done during the most inactive hours of the day, assured Isberto, and Smart is putting systems in place to minimise the impact on subscribers.
“We have a lot of work to do. But everyone in Smart is working twice as hard to make this entire exercise as painless as possible to our customers. We are also actively updating them, so they can prepare accordingly. In the end, our commitment to all our subscribers is that they will have the best possible experience, particularly for mobile data,” added Isberto.