Telecoms

Smart completes roll-out of 9,500 LTE base stations

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief July 19, 2012 · 2 min read

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Since we beta tested the LTE service of Smart from last year (it ended around March), I’ve been asked a lot of times when they will officially launch the service in the Philippines. There was lot of noise about it since last year leading to 1st quarter of this year and then there was silence.

We were expecting that by June, Smart would have already launched its LTE service commercially and we’d actually be able to experience those blazing fast mobile internet speeds (I was getting as fast as 40Mbps on SpeedTest and up to 2MB/s on torrents).

During the beta phase back in February, we were told that Smart was fast-tracking the network upgrade and their engineering team was working 24/7 equipping the base stations for LTE deployment.

This week, they have announced that they’re finished with the network upgrade — “Smart replaced the radio equipment in 9,500 base stations with next-generation facilities that have increased its network’s capacity“.

â€œEvery single base station of Smart is now easily upgradeable to fourth-generation technologies like HSPA+ and LTE,â€ added Smart president and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno.

That means with a flip of a switch, we can have a full functional LTE network. When this switch will be turned on is another matter altogether (an Engineer from Huawei tells us it’s just a software switch). Could be this month, next month, end of the year or next year. What I know is that they promised it will be up and running and we will see speeds of up to 50Mbps on our LTE handsets (or modems) really soon. Then again, the service will certainly priced at a premium.

And that’s all that we know for now.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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76 Comments

Gensanboy · 14 years ago

Kuntento na ako sa speed ng sun dito sa gensan …2.26 to 3 mpbs…. At least consistent 24/7. Mura pa unli P100 for 3 days. Pang masa ang price.

ZEF · 14 years ago

stable na 2mbps lang sakin sa mobile ayos na…
eh hindi nga maibigay eh…
From laoag city ako ilocos norte.
Sun pinaka mabilis dito pag off peak kaya ng upto 3mbps HSPA+ pag peak naman 384kbps-768kbps kahit na HSPA+ pa.
What the sense of the upgrade if hindi nga maibigay yung tamang speed sa current na ginagamit nila ngayun… hayz…

MildMannered · 14 years ago

Iba naman experience ko between Smart and Globe. Mas ok ang Globe either I’m at the office or at Home. 2 yrs akong naka smartBro at swerte na pag umabot man lang ng 128kbps ang speed pag nasa bahay..While sa Globe I get a speed of 1mbps upto 2.7mbps consistently.

Soul Annihilator · 14 years ago

Errr…. Ni di pa nila nama-maximize yung potential ng HSPA+, pinagyayabang na naman nila yung LTE upgrade. Ok lang sana kung maganda yung current HSPA+ services nila.

DaOtherEye · 14 years ago

Atleast their HSPA+ coverage is way better than Globe (even on ordinary 3G). Globe puro EDGE na nga lang at GPRS, mas madalas pa na di gumagana.

Globe = FAIL!

bakulaw · 14 years ago

Nag endorse na naman etong mokong na ito.
Hoy, itigil mo na ang kaka endorse!!!

Ampanget mo!

DaOtherEye · 14 years ago

It is still tech news, eventhough it sounds like an endorsement (which people from the competition would only care).

It’s good for us to know that there is actually a player in the mobile industry who is upgrading their network diligently, not just by lip service… unlike the “leader in postpaid(daw) na nag-overhype ng $700 million USD network modernization plan pero sobrang bagal naman kumilos at mukhang kakalawangin na ang bagong equipment bago nila mapatakbo at sasabihin pa sa yo na may network enhancement sa area mo if something goes wrong kahit wala naman at pumapalpak lang ang network.

http://t.co/spkyMZH9

Dinadaan lang sa PR ang imaginary upgrade.

kriman · 14 years ago

:)50mbps talaga,, dapat GIG na bentahan dito eh

kriman · 14 years ago

Great Plan. hopefully it will happen :)

aze · 14 years ago

im using htc sensation for mobile browsing, last december upto march maybe the speed was great at home or at office. 2-6mbps, suddenly bumagal bigla smart, sa office nag sswitch form hsdpa+ to 3g. sana maayos na nila talaga to. i prefer good speed consistency than inconsistent balzing fast internet. for me hsdpa+ is almost good for DL, daily use. im a long time smart subscriber btw pero sa iphone ng kasama ko na naka globe anlakas ng internet speed nya hayst. Sir Yuga, question lang in terms of data speed ams mabilis ba 4s nya sa sensation ko? o parehas lang?

asa ka pa · 14 years ago

another marketing strategy na hindi naman tapat.
another one of the usual utility with good advrtising but poor service tsk tsk tsk

meh · 14 years ago

Lets hope those 9,500 lte points are just in manila. Globes HSDPA has been a complete joke at best it gets 2Mbps down .

In the USA thats hardly 3g speed

ken · 14 years ago

kasama dyan sa 9500 “base station” yung mga cellsite ng sun cell which is supposedly interconnected na with smart (counted as new)

Chris Ammerlaan · 14 years ago

When I checked with Smartcares (NOT)there statement was “no you will not get hspa+ in Capas Tarlac”, so Ill be stuck with Edge, used to have 5 bars of 3G, but Smart don’t give a hoot

benchmark · 14 years ago

IMO why bother, kung yung pinaka basic net connection nga di sila (all telcos) makapagbigay ng matinong speed, what more sa mga ganyang LTE LTE na yan. 80% reliability? Why don’t they first make basic connections to 99% muna before moving to LTE…pero asa pa.

tecjunkeez · 14 years ago

If it’s Globe, it sucks. Speaking of mobile internet, get SMART.

Marjune · 14 years ago

Hindi nga.. bakit sa Liliw, Laguna, gprs paren ang connection.. hays.. tourist attraction sya at daming bumibiling sapatos at sandals… bakit di kame ambunan ng smart at globe..

Inhinyero · 14 years ago

9500 BTS roll out is only a Modernization Project of Smart as a replacement for those aging CellSite Equipments. This not means, that 9500, a total number of Smart are LTE equipped nor LTE Upgradable, Not even 3G or HSPA or HSPA+ Upgradable, because HSPA+ or 3G and LTE is a separately equipment and Smart is only looking on 100+ LTE sites, and more than 3000 3G or HSPA+ nationwide.

Monty · 14 years ago

Got this text message from Globe today:Globe Network: Modernization is coming your way! A cell site near you will be upgraded later today so you can look forward to a better network experience. When all stages of this activity are completed, everything you do with your Globe mobile Â will be better, faster & more awesome! As we change the equipment, we will do our best to minimize any inconvenience you may experience late in the evening. Â We request for your understanding. Thank you. – Maybe from dial-up speed they’ll progress to 128kbps. Whoopee.

lalalala · 14 years ago

You mean HSPA+ connections are not yet rolled out on any stations? I’m not sure but I think I connected to HSPA+ when I was vacationing in Iloilo. Weird..

paolo · 14 years ago

Shame you’ll initially be only able to take advantage of the LTE network with Huawei dongles, not actual smartphones.

Kind of makes the release of the LTE-ENABLED Sony Xperia Ion to the country seem irrelevant(Because if what I’ve read so far are correct, you can NOT use Smart LTE on Sony Xperia Ion once Smart LTE is active, c/o LTE network incompatibility. :( )

b2gz · 14 years ago

LTE is not a base station/rf upgrade only. It needs to have a different set of new network elements almost different from the 3g network.

Chris · 14 years ago

Actually, here in cebu you get hspa+ signals wherever you go. It’s been a week since they finished their network upgrades here. Mobile Internet Speed here is between 2-3Mbps unlike before which is barely 1Mbps. I had my smart wimax disconnected because of this development. Thanks Globe

Cross · 14 years ago

I’m here in Cebu too but unlike you I get only EDGE from Globe which is so slow. I used to get 3G but now it’s so hard to get a 3G signal.

rj ignacio · 14 years ago

those who will want to utilize LTE should switch to LTE capable phones…samsung galaxy s3 is not capable..htc one x-LTE is capable..there’s also one from LG I think..they might be bundling LTE capable phones to their plans..who knows?

And most probably a mobile data cap since it will introduce lots of traffic to the network.

my 2 cents :)

JM Balicano · 14 years ago

Battery life? What battery life?

daothereye · 14 years ago

And all the while, Globe had been making noise about a $700 million USD network upgrade since late last year. In my last bill for this month, it had a letter from Ernest Cu saying it will take another 2 years to deploy Globe’s upgrade.Ika nga puro payabang lang yung press release nila last year, kulelat pa rin naman sa coverage and modernization.

Kahit nga 3G, wala pa sa area namin although nasa gitna naman kami ng aktibong syudad dito sa Metro Manila. Puro GPRS o EDGE lang, and almost always na di pa gumagana ang EDGE pagdating sa data connection. Minsan di pa ko makakatanggap ng calls pag naka-EDGE at late yung mga text messages.

By the time na matapos yung network upgrade ng Globe, baka di na uso LTE nun…

John · 14 years ago

What did the letter from Ernest Cu specifically say ? I might transfer to smart if you’re truthful… I need my network to be future proof.

DaOtherEye · 14 years ago

In one paragraph in the middle of letter, it says (and I quote):

“Our modernization program will be rolled out progressively over a period of two years. ONCE COMPLETED,you can expect a more robust and resilient network to give you that unparalleled customer experience” (BS, I know)

I have been complaining about my grievances since the start of this year pero la naman nangyayari. Pag nawalan ako signal, they always reason out na may network enhancement daw pero pag nagka-signal na, EDGE pa rin naman na di gumagana.