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By Darwin G. Amojelar Reporter
GLOBE Telecom Inc. on Thursday
said it will expand its 3G (third generation) service to rural
areas.
Globe, which is partly owned by
Asia’s biggest telco, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., said it
has sought a supplementary 3G spectrum from the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that will be used particularly
for its deployment in rural areas.
The regulator, through NTC
Memorandum Circular No. 07-08-2005, allocated radio frequency bands
for international mobile telecommunications 2000 (IMT2000) or 3G
mobile telecommunications.
Globe wants the assignment of 3G
radio frequency bands 825 to 845 megahertz (MHz) and 870 to 890 MHz.
Froilan M. Castelo, Globe’s
head for regulator affairs, said the frequencies are of a lower
bandwidth than Globe’s current 3G frequency assignment of 1945 to
1955 MHz and 2135 to 2145 MHz (Channels 6 and 7).
“As such, their transmission
and reception capability covers a greater range from a technology
standpoint. This characteristic can permit the use of fewer 3G base
stations and network elements, while still providing substantial
coverage,” Castelo said.
He said that while Globe
continues to actively pursue nationwide 3G service expansion,
especially in urban areas with presently assigned spectrum, the 3G
investment case differs significantly in rural areas where the
company cannot expect a reasonable rate of return.
“Technically, as mentioned, the
lower bandwidth of the 3G spectrum for which we are applying entails
less infrastructure. Consequently, Globe can temper its capital
expenditure, and in turn, accelerate 3G service delivery in the
countryside,” Castelo said.
In 2006, the country’s second
largest mobile phone service provider spent at least P4 billion for
its 3G rollout.
Under its five-year 3G network
plan submitted earlier to the NTC, Globe proposed to cover 80
percent of provincial capital cities and towns, and 95 percent of
chartered cities.
At present, Globe’s 3G service
covers Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao, as well as key
provincial capitals and municipalities in 28 provinces.
As of last year, it has installed
more than 1,006 3G node base stations, at least nine 3G radio
network controllers, two servers, three media gateways, six
transmission aggregators, and four service GPRS (General Packet
Radio Service) nodes.
A study done by the International
Data Corp. (IDC) said demand for 3G phones will increase this year,
although adoption will be faster in the devices space than in the
services space.
“Rising market interest,
falling prices of handsets and availability of more models catering
to different purchasing skews, will further drive 3G phone
ownership,” IDC said.
3G provides the subscriber faster
access to the Internet and capability to transmit and receive data
in various forms, including photos, video, audio.
Globe was one of four telcos that
bagged permits to offer 3G more than a year ago. Although bidding
for the frequencies was hotly contested, 3G take up however has yet
to live up to earlier forecasts of demand.
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