LTE subscription seen to rise to 70%

MANILA, Philippines - Long Term Evolution (LTE) subscriptions in the Philippines are seen to increase to 70 percent of total subscription in 2022 from 10 percent at present as telcos continue their aggressive spending in network upgrades, Ericsson said. 

Sean Gowran, head for Ericsson Philippines and Pacific Islands, said in a briefing, LTE technology is expected to have dominant access globally by 2018, based on the latest Ericsson Mobility Report. 

As LTE becomes the dominant wireless technology, 3G subscriptions in the Philippines would decrease to 30 percent of total subscriptions in 2022 from the current 40 percent. 

Gowran said very few would remain on 2G by 2022 even as the technology currently accounts for the bulk of the subscriptions in the country.

He said the network upgrades and rollout of LTE in more areas by the telcos would drive the increase in LTE adoption. 

“Both Smart (Communications Inc.) and Globe (Telecom Inc.) are investing somewhere between 28 and 30 percent of their revenue back into network development. Global average is slightly below 20 percent,” he said. 

Aside from increasing the number of LTE users, he said the telcos’ investments in network upgrades are also expected to enable customers to experience improved internet speeds. 

According to Ericsson’s report, the probability of a user achieving the minimum required network speed for web browsing, video streaming and high definition video streaming showed improvements in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. 

In particular, the probability of a user in the Philippines to meet the minimum required network speed for web browsing rose to 82 percent in the first quarter from the previous year’s 69 percent.

For video streaming, the probability of the user getting the minimum required network speed for the task improved to 49 percent from January to March from 35 percent a year ago, while the probability for high definition video streaming went up to 29 percent in the first quarter from last year’s 19 percent.

Gowran said the data on the probability of achieving the minimum required network speed are based on speed tests from Ookla.

“I think we can expect these metrics to continue based on the announced plan of the operators providing 95 percent LTE coverage by the end of next year…It is in their interest to move subscribers to 3G or 4G. They can provide more services, better quality of services and they can reuse spectrum being dedicated to 2G today on more efficient technology,” he said.