PLDT to launch 5G services in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — Telecommunications and digital services provider PLDT Inc. is preparing its network for the upcoming commercial launch of its 5G services in the second quarter.

“We’re starting to rollout some base stations for 5G,” PLDT chief revenue officer and Smart Communications Inc. president Al Panlilio said.

“We are plotting to have something that we can bring to the market maybe sometime in the second quarter. But for the meantime, we’re just focused on making sure that we are able to fix the network at this point,” he said.

PLDT chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan assured the telco giant “will certainly get into that space (5G) in a significant way.”

PLDT was initially eyeing to launch its 5G services for home broadband and enterprise customers by the fourth quarter last year, but deferred it to this year to have a clearer view of the new technology.

PLDT officials said last year the commercial launch could happen as early as the first quarter.

The telco giant has been testing 5G “on a proof of concept basis” with technology providers such as China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE, Finland’s Nokia, Cisco Systems of the US and Sweden’s Ericsson.

Through the company’s wireless arm Smart, it has fired up the country’s first 5G base stations in Makati and Pampanga in 2018, transforming Makati City and Clark Freeport Zone into the country’s first Smart 5G Cities.

The company plans to introduce its 5G commercial services in select areas initially as it cannot be made available nationwide immediately.

PLDT said it is best positioned to deploy 5G in the country given its fixed and wireless infrastructure, powered by the country’s most extensive fiber network.

Rival Globe Telecom officially made its 5G fixed wireless broadband service commercially available to consumers in July last year in Barangay Buting in Pasig City, making the Philippines the first country in Southeast Asia to experience commercial 5G fixed wireless broadband.

Last October, Globe said it has made its 5G fixed wireless broadband service called Globe At Home Air Fiber commercially available to consumers in select areas in Rizal, Cavite, and Bulacan.

Last week, a study commissioned by global technology firm Cisco showed that the rollout of 5G services could boost annual revenues of Philippine telecom operators by as much as $650 million starting 2025.

5G penetration is expected to be 25 percent to 40 percent in major countries in ASEAN by 2025, with Philippines seeing nearly 15 percent penetration.

5G is a technology that promises speeds up to 50 times faster, 10 times more responsiveness, and much lower power connectivity than 4G.