Nokia bullish on Philippines prospects

MANILA, Philippines — Nokia is bullish on the growth of its business in the Philippines as the company looks to capitalize on the country’s 5G transformation in the next few years.

Nokia Philippines head Carlos Reyes said 5G adoption across Southeast Asia continues to gain momentum, with the Philippines one of the region’s first countries to roll-out the new technology.

“The potential I’m seeing here in the Philippines is huge because of all conditions like pandemic and digital transformations. Our next coming years are going to be very, very interesting,” Reyes said in a virtual briefing yesterday.

“I am surprised at the potential the Philippines has for development. What I have really seen in the Philippines is a very big ecosystem that is moving forward in order to have a better communications environment,” he said.

Reyes said 5G is expected to be a game changer for the country’s industries and enterprises.

He said this next generation in connectivity would empower organizations to achieve the new levels of reliability, security, multi-user capacity performance and mobility.

“I was surprised with the amount of initiatives that are ongoing in order to move forward in the country. I foresee that the second half of this year, many of the projects will continue expanding and new projects are going to be appearing,” Reyes said.

“From our conversations with our customers, they are really looking to move to the next level in terms of technology. In that sense, we at Nokia are there to support them. I foresee that we are going to be growing as expected,” he said.

Nokia, a global leader in 5G, has 165 commercial 5G deals and powering 66 live 5G operator networks globally.

Out of these, the Finnish telecom equipment maker has 20 commercial 5G deals across Asia-Pacific and Japan.

In the country, Nokia has already formed 5G deals with local mobile operators Globe Telecom and Dito Telecommunity to expand on the delivery of 5G services nationwide.

Nokia has also been helping to build a nationwide digital ecosystem primed to take advantage of the benefits of 5G and related applications, such as working with digital services provider Converge ICT  to provide ultra-broadband services for its consumers and businesses.

Nokia is also collaborating with PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications for enterprise-specific Internet of Things services across the country, as well as the deployment of comprehensive service orchestration and assurance solutions.

“What is happening in the Philippines right now in terms of 5G, as we can see in the market, is that the operators at this moment are doing the rollout of 5G in the main cities. Of course, this will take time. We need to have in mind that working in pandemic conditions is not so easy and there are a lot of restrictions,” Reyes said.

“Nevertheless, the market is moving forward, and as I mentioned, Asia Pacific is a region that is taking the lead worldwide in terms of 5G. I think the next five years are going to be fundamental for the continuous rollout of 5G technology,” he said.