Telecoms

PLDT upgrades to 7.2Mbps HSPA850

Abe Olandres February 11, 2009 · 1 min read

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In a report from Business Mirror last Monday, PLDT president Napoleon Nazareno said they are upgrading their networks to a faster HSPA850 platform.

This will enable PLDT (and Smart) to offer 3G speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. Smart Bro is currently promoting its 2Mbps network. The HSPA850 has starting rolling out this February in Metro Manila and could be spreading across major cities in the country in the next couple of months.

The PLDT Group earmarked an investment of about $50 million (~Php2.35 billion) for the said HSPA technology. If those existing 3G USB dongles can support HSPA850, we should be seeing increased mobile 3G speeds anytime this month.

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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 considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

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37 Comments

runder haarausfall · 13 years ago

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate your
efforts and I am waiting for your further write ups thanks once again.

vcent3000 · 17 years ago

Dapat hindi lang sa wireless sila mag-upgrade, pati rin sa WIRED connections…YUNG DSL nila. Sana gayahin nila ang Japan o Korea na greater than 40Mbps ang speed…

emignatius · 17 years ago

I’m having some problem with my 3G network. When 3G is enabled on my HTC phone, using the phone is practically useless. I can’t send or receive text messages or call somebody. But when I choose to use only the gsm network, the problem goes away. Are there any news regarding smart 3G network upgrading or something because it’s becoming a little bit frustrating as I use their 3G services a lot? Anybody?

LIDE · 17 years ago

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glenn · 17 years ago

So, can existing smart/weroam dongles support hspa850?

spectrosci · 17 years ago

Now that’s what we’re talkin’ about! SMART BRO sucks by the way. Those goofballs don’t come up with anything good other than stealing our precious time.

calvin · 17 years ago

how i wish they also upgrade DSL speed with no extra cost to subscribers.

madzman23 · 17 years ago

Yeah, I agree with Taong Bahay, they should focus first at the coverage rather than focusing on speed. They spent millions of dollars for acquiring new platforms, that they can only give to a limited area, I think that is not a good plan. They should do that in parallel or at least 80% parallel. Then they can now claim that they have mobile internet. They should also look at that aspect more carefully. Wider coverage means more customers; More customers means more profit.
But this is not bad move though, its good than nothing.
^_^

Bruce · 17 years ago

I’d love to see a map of HSPA enabled smart/pldt towers outside of Manila. You could probably count them on 1 hand.

sherwin · 17 years ago

Fine print niyan ay UP TO 7.2Mbps, it would be not feasible in business terms if PLDT would give away kahit sustained 1Mbps (not spikes) for anything less than 1000 pesos a month where international bandwidth capacity ranges from $20-$100 a month per meg.

7.2Mbps from your 3G device/cpe up to the Base Station yan but that doesn’t mean it has the corresponding BTS-BSC backhaul and the corresponding internet capacity to the international backbone, of course may over subscription ratio pa so let’s keep our expectations up to a reasonable level.

i’d still go for quality and a stable connection than the quantity of “offered” bandwidth.

Taong Bahay · 17 years ago

Ibig sabihin ba nito ay wider 3G area coverage? I’d rather go for range rather than speed sa ngayon. Overkill pa yata ang 7mbps rate para sa EEEPC ko habang GPRS pa rin ang signal na nasasagap ko sa Urdaneta…

Angelo Panares · 17 years ago

yey ! faster internet is always good for everyone. package this with guaranteed good latency and were set for the future :)

eldie21 · 17 years ago

Sana mabeat pa ang SKY Internet na 12 mbps… Pero cool yan kung pati ang Smart Bro (USB) Wireless kapag nabeat nila yan sa bakasyon. Tiyak patok at lalakas ang PLDT and Smart Communication… NATIONWIDE!