PLDT activates country’s first 5G cell sites in Makati, Clark

MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. and wireless arm Smart Communications Inc. have activated the country’s first 5G cell sites in the Makati Central Business District and at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.

PLDT and Smart yesterday said they made on-air the first 5G cell site at the PLDT headquarters in Makati City with technology partner Huawei, while also firing up the first 5G cell site at the Clark Smart 5G City with technology partner Ericsson.

The 5G cell sites are 3GPP standard compliant and are the first to be activated in the Philippines, according to PLDT.

“I am happy to announce that PLDT and Smart just fired up the first 5G cell sites in the country, putting the company alongside the first tier operators in the world to have deployed live 5G base stations. This is part of our commitment to bring the most advanced technologies to the country,” PLDT and Smart chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

By firing up a 5G cell site in a central business district, PLDT and Smart said they are looking to pilot 5G solutions catered to densely populated areas.

“With 5G resources now in place, we are looking at developing 5G solutions and applications for central business district areas like Makati, which host a dense population of businesses, people and advanced devices,” PLDT and Smart executive vice president and chief revenue officer Ernesto Alberto said.

“With 5G cell sites now live and on-air, we are now set to test 5G’s powerful platform to develop solutions such as autonomous vehicles, connected fleets, and smart buildings and factories, and be able to deliver 5G services to our customers soon,” added Joachim Horn, PLDT-Smart chief technology and information advisor.

Aside from ultra-high speeds, the key features of 5G include enhanced mobile broadband services, massive machine type communications, and ultra-reliable and low-latency communications.

PLDT said 5G would also open up exciting possibilities for Internet of Things applications and smart cities for Filipinos, particularly for the transport sector, traffic management, manufacturing, airport and mall operations, logistics and warehousing, retail, customer support, and smart homes, among others.

According to PLDT-Smart senior vice president for network planning and engineering Mario Tamayo, Smart is continuously upgrading its network’s core and transport elements, including upgrading to fiber the backhaul connecting the network’s cell sites around the country and deploying 5G-ready equipment in its ongoing nationwide LTE roll-out.

In the Clark Freeport Zone, PLDT and Smart are also ramping up the roll-out of LTE in key areas and equipping all of them with 5G facilities in the coming months.

With the country’s most extensive fiber network now at over 221,000 kilometers, PLDT and Smart said they are best positioned to deploy 5G in the country.

Nunzio Mirtillo, Ericsson market area head for South East Asia, Oceania and India, said the firing up of 5G cell sites would lay the foundation for the network infrastructure of PLDT and Smart to take it to the next level as it enables the country towards becoming a more digitalized economy.