In a media advisory released Friday, Globe Telecom said it is on track on the planned deployment of 5G technology in the second quarter of 2019. A few weeks ago, the telecommunications firm announced the 5G adoptions for its Globe At Home service.

Executives of Globe recently went to Shanghai, China, to discuss with Huawei deputy chair Eric Xu their 5G partnership and other strategies to provide first-world internet connectivity in the Philippines.

With the necessary assets already in place, Globe is now largely focused on completing the upgrade of its network — radio, transmission, core, and facilities — to support 5G by the end of the year.

In July 2017, Globe started commercially deploying massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technologies, using 2CC carrier aggregation, which doubles LTE capacity. This is seen to provide vast mobile capacity, coverage, and reliability for the 5G future.

“5G is an important building block for the Philippine economy’s competitiveness. This is the reason we are accelerating our efforts to deploy 5G, so we can provide as many Filipinos as possible an access to the technology,” said Gil Genio said, Globe chief technology and information officer.

More economic opportunities

With 5G, Genio said the Philippines can expect more companies entering the country, more employment opportunities, and higher equipment sales, among other economic benefits.

“5G will bring innovation and spur economic growth in the Philippines,” Genio said. “From the same physical network, we will be able to support different uses with varying performance requirements, in effect looking like different networks to different types of applications, from IoT to faster broadband to mission-critical information. This will spur innovation and help various industries digitally transform.”

While it is upgrading its network to support 5G, Globe is also pushing for the boundaries of 4G/LTE technology.

“5G will not operate as a standalone technology, at least not for the earliest use cases. How 4G/LTE integrates with 5G will determine the overall fixed wireless experience in the next few years,” Genio said.

From 2014 until the first quarter of 2018, Globe spent over P139 billion, mainly for the expansion and upgrade of its network.

Huawei was also the technology partner of Globe when it implemented a $700-million network modernization program that began in 2011.

In November 2015, Globe signed a fresh five-year contract with Huawei, involving the planning and design of a mobile broadband network, as well as the creation of a mobile innovation center.