Smart upgrading cell sites in Marikina, Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc.’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. is upgrading its cell sites in Marikina and Quezon City beginning this month to deliver improved Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 3G services for customers.

“We are doubling the number of our LTE (Long Term Evolution) equipment in Marikina and Quezon City, and expanding support for 3G as well,” Mario Tamayo, PLDT and Smart senior vice president for network planning and engineering said in a statement yesterday.

“By the end of our upgrades, we expect to improve the coverage of our 700 MHz (Megahertz) and 1800 MHz frequencies in the area, which will widen and improve indoor coverage, as well as increase each cell site’s capacity to handle more calls, texts and data traffic,” he said.

While the network upgrade is being implemented, Tamayo said PLDT and Smart are seeking the customers’ understanding.

“We are doing a lot of work in our facilities so please bear with us as we execute this. From the work that we’ve already completed, our customers are already reporting much improved LTE and 3G experience. They will enjoy progressively better mobile data services in the next few months, particularly for those using LTE devices,” he said.

Smart has made a commitment to the government to make LTE available in 95 percent of the country’s cities and municipalities by the end of next year.

LTE can be quickly upgraded to LTE-Advanced or LTE-A, which can provide even faster speeds and greater capacity to subscribers.

Smart has completed the LTE rollout in urban hubs such as Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Boracay, as well as the province of Rizal.

As Smart is ramping up deployment of LTE, it is encouraging subscribers to upgrade to LTE SIMs for improved mobile data experience.