Globe Telecom of the Philippines is reportedly considering the use of satellite services to provide access to the internet in remote or rural areas of the country where more traditional fixed telephony options are not available.
In a statement dated 19 May, the company’s vice president and head of broadband business, Darius Delgado, confirmed: ‘We see the satellite service as a promising deployment model that can reach the rural areas where there’s not much household density and will be challenging to roll out wired services’. However, the Ayala-led business is mindful of the problems related to such a business model, not least the high financial costs, and believes that that needs to change before it can make satellite-based delivery of broadband services ‘viable’ to serve the mass market. Nonetheless, ‘Globe At Home’ is said to be ‘actively pursuing’ other alternative technologies and the Manila Standard claims it is in talks with suppliers of other potential broadband technologies from low-earth orbit satellites to the more traditional high-orbit satellites.