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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
CONNECTIVITY Unlimited Resource
Enterprise Inc.(CURE) has requested temporary frequencies from the
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for the telecom
company’s use in testing its network rollout of 3G (third
generation) technology.
Telcos tout 3G as the next
biggest thing in mobile telephony and is envisioned to boost weak
revenues occasioned by a maturing mobile-phone market in the
Philippines.
Led by former trade minister
Roberto Ongpin, Cure is the third out of four companies granted a
permit to operate 3G that have taken steps to rollout the service.
The first two, Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communications Inc., are
already offering the service on a commercial basis.
In a letter to NTC, Albert T.
Reyes, CURE manager for telco industry relations and roaming
business, said the company is aggressively rolling out its network.
He however cited an obstacle involving the difficulty in connecting
the company’s transmission facilities to its mobile switching
center.
“To solve as well as fast track
our deployment, we would like to test a solution provided by a
vendor, Intracom Telecom, called the WiBAS-Pro Wireless Broadband
Access System,” Reyes said.
”Our plan is to test and
ensure the high quality of this solution prior to its full
deployment into our network. We propose to test one base station and
ten terminal stations in the frequency range of sub-band A of the
WiBAS-Pro system; 10,12.25 MHz-10,533.75 MHz and a 7MHz channel,”
he added.
CURE wants to use the
frequencies if available for four months for testing purposes.
In a recent document submitted to
NTC, CURE said it set a P11.55-billion budget for its capital
expenditure under its five-year rollout plan. Of this, P3.95 billion
is allocated for the first year.
The company expects an estimated
P143 billion in revenues within five years of operation.
CURE said it plans to
provide services within the 12 months from the grant of authority to
operate 3G. The supposed service includes installing an initial
number of 280 base transceiver stations that will serve an initial
market niche of at least 200,000 subscribers in designated areas.
The company committed
itself to cover 95 percent of provincial cities and municipalities
and 90 percent of chartered cities.
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