Philippines
Demand for cell sites in the Philippines is increasing, and Globe Telecom is working to provide better access and internet speed. Alberto de Larrazabal, chief commercial officer of Globe, said at the Regional Competitiveness Summit this week that the country needs to “double the number of cell sites to meet demand.” With that, the company said it may invest approximately $750 million annually for more cell sites.
According to Malaya Business Insight, De Larrazabal said that “the Philippines has very low cell site density.” He said this leads to fixed internet in the country lagging behind mobile data, and the country playing catch-up.
Globe invested about $600 million to the cause in 2015, allotting 30 percent of revenue for capital expenditure in the last two years. However, the country still lags behind its neighbors in Vietnam and China, with only 22,000 aggregate cell sites. De Larrazabal told the news outlet that more cell sites and fiber optics need to be deployed as more bandwidth is needed.
De Larrazabal said that Globe has been able to fire up the first 700 MHz base station, 10 more in Quezon City and two in Davao. He plans on 200 base stations to cover Manila by September, and by the end of the year he hopes to have 500 operational base stations on this spectrum. Globe will build about 1,000 cell sites per year, Malaya Business Insight reported, with 130 of the 2,000 base stations with the expanded 2600 MHz in Visayas and Mindanao activated.
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