The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Riza Lozada
Government regulator National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) plans to bid out new frequencies for broadband Internet on the heels of the recent mega deal in which telecommunications giants Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) bought San Miguel Corp. (SMC) unit Vega Telecom Inc. for P70 billion to primarily access the 700 megahertz (MHz) band allocated to it.
After the recent deal, telecommunications firms have ramped up the roll-out of their projects to speed up data communications.
Globe bared the company’s planned increased utilization of its additional allocation in the 2600 MHz band, which the company said also formed part of the resources purchased from SMC’s telecommunication assets.
Joel Agustin, Globe senior vice president for the Program Governance Network Technical Group, said Globe plans to use the 2600 MHz band in more sites to immediately put to use the 2600 MHz spectrum for increased network capacities using the LTE technology, while the lower frequencies such as the 700 MHz band, provide better signal penetration and offer stronger indoor coverage.
The higher frequencies, such as the 2600 MHz band, provide additional capacity for broadband data, Agustin said.
The NTC is planning to allocate a higher band of 3400 to 3600 MHz for mobile telecommunications in accordance with a recent international agreement for the use of the radio frequency.
NTC in a proposed circular said “the government shall allocate the spectrum to service providers who will use it efficiently and effectively to meet public demand for telecommunications service and may avail of new cost effective technologies.”
The 3400 to 3600 MHz band that was previously acknowledged as suitable for Point-to-Multi-Point Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Systems will be allocated for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), and the band 3700 to 4200 MHz primarily used for Fixed Service (FS) and Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) will be made available for Fixed Wireless Systems for Point-to- Point Radio Systems. Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) co-exists in the same band.
PLDT and its mobile unit Smart has also embarked on a three-year digital pivot by spending P43 billion for capital expenditures this year.
Around $100 million more in capex will likely be earmarked, following the acquisition of the telecoms business of San Miguel Corp. that included the utilization of the 700 MHz frequency band, the company reported.
Pldt and its various subsidiaries, such as Voyager Innovation and Talas Data Intelligence, are also developing and offering digital and financial technology services that offer the group’s customers higher levels of efficiencies and convenience.
The NTC is also set to conduct a public hearing to discuss the rules on Fixed Wireless Systems (FWS) operating in the 71 to 76 gigahertz (GHz) and 81 to 86 GHz bands with demand for Fixed Wireless Systems for broadband applications and highspeed networks for the rapidly growing deployment of large data capacity transport, e.g. for uncompressed high-definition television (HDTV) signal transmission or for mobile networks applications.
The frequency band 71 to 76 GHz and 81 to 86 GHz will be allocated for FWS and shall form part of the National Radio Frequency Allocation Table (NRFAT), the NTC proposed regulations.
“The radio frequency block arrangements are based on five GHz sub-band or block subdivided to form smaller blocks or channel sizes from 250 MHz to 2.5 GHz and duplex frequency of 10 GHz allowing frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) applications,” the NTC proposed.