Globe ready to cater to bandwidth demand

MANILA, Philippines — Globe Telecom Inc. is ready to cater to the bandwidth demand in the country through its international connectivity capacity which can activate more than 16 terabits per second (Tbps).

“Globe Telecom’s international connectivity capacity provides the leading telecommunications provider with the ability to activate more than 16 Tbps sufficient to service the bandwidth demand in the country and satisfy the market’s hunger for faster internet services,” the Ayala-led telco said in a statement.

The statement was issued to correct public pronouncements made earlier by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, placing the telecommunication industry’s combined capacity at two Tbps.

While Globe has enough capacity to provide world class internet service, it said there is a need to address right-of-way access and unreasonable permit issues which hamper the connectivity of many Filipinos.

“Our biggest hurdle in delivering consistently good internet (service) is the cumbersome number of permits and right of way issues that prevent us from building the last mile connectivity that would allow world class internet services to be enjoyed by the ordinary household or any person using a mobile phone.   We have repeatedly called on the government to help address these issues that are prevalent at the local government level.  Now with more people adopting to internet use much faster than the infrastructure can be built, then the problem gets exacerbated,” Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu said.

Out of the current bandwidth capacity of more than 16 Tbps, Globe’s “lit-up” capacity is less than three Tbps as the rest of the bandwidth remain unused due to insufficient last mile infrastructure. 

Aside from permitting and right of way issues, other last mile concerns are the non-standardized tower fees across local government units and real property tax challenges, Cu said.

Globe has faced permitting challenges at the local government levels for the past years.

The telco has to secure 25 permits from local government units to build just one cell site and the processing of permits takes at least eight months to complete.

Laying down the fiber optic cable to reach homes is also a tedious process.

Cu said building more cell sites is necessary for the Philippines to match and even surpass its Asian neighbors in cell site density.

“We keep comparing ourselves with developed countries and our highly developed Asian neighbors on internet speed.  What we don’t realize is that we are facing problems unique to the Philippines,” he said.

User-per-cell site density in the Philippines is 2,244, based on estimates of 21,000 total cell sites in the country against internet users of around 47.1 million. 

As the country is growing in step with the rest of Asia and the digital economy will require more bandwidth and better internet services, the government and industry would have to work together to provide a better internet experience.

Globe has been investing in expanding its international cable connectivity to respond to growing demand for internet services.