There’s been a flurry of 5G news recently in the Philippines, where, over the past few days, one operator has announced FWA trials and another has begun the nationwide rollout of its fifth-generation mobile network.
According to TeleGeography's CommsUpdate, Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp (PT&T) has announced plans to carry out proof of concept (PoC) trials on fixed wireless access (FWA) services using 5G technology.
The company already holds a 200MHz block of High Band Spectrum from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). In addition it has recently seen a 22 percent rise in broadband connections – driving a strong increase in revenue.
As the publicly listed company holds a 25-year franchise that allows it to establish, maintain and operate both wired and wireless telecoms systems for domestic and international communications – and has a fibre network covering almost 40 percent of the Philippine population – this certainly seems a logical way forward.
Meanwhile Smart Communications, the mobile arm of telecoms giant PLDT Inc, has begun the nationwide rollout of its fifth-generation mobile network, which launched in July this year. The 5G deployments will take place in four key cities, though Smart’s 5G network is currently live in many other areas.