Globe to further expand network in 2020; releases first 5G smartphone in PH for Platinum customers

Globe will continue to push its network expansion to meet its customers’ growing demand for data. The company committed to spend P63.0 billion in capital expenditures in 2020, which includes spill over of capex commitments from 2019.

Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu says the company increased its cell sites deployment last year by 139% compared to 2018. The number of Base Stations last year also increased 69% compared to 2018. In total, these expansions have made Globe LTE coverage available at almost 93% of cities and municipalities all over the country.

“Amid competitive pressures and rising challenges in the operating environment, Globe continues to fulfill its long-term commitment to provide the Philippines with first-world internet connectivity,” Cu said.

A driving force since 2011, Globe’s massive network expansion is grounded on a multi-pronged network infrastructures and capacity expansion that aims to provide customers with better internet experience. Last year, Globe became the first mobile operator in Southeast Asia to commercially launch 5G for home. The telco giant is now set to transform areas within major CBDs to 5G mobile capable sites within the year. Today, the company announced the release of Huawei Mate 30 Pro, the first 5G ready device for its Platinum customers.

Mobile data traffic went up to 1,699 petabytes (1.69M Terabytes) from 956 petabytes in 2018 or an annual increase of 78%.

Based on the Digital 2020: Global Digital Overview made by We Are Social, the Philippines has the highest average time spent on the Internet with nine hours and 45 minutes. The country also ranked first in daily time spent on social media with an average of 3 hours and 53 minutes.

The same report also pegged the Philippines’ fixed broadband speed at 25.6 mbps. This represents a very significant improvement from the 5.5 mbps speed reported by Akamai Technologies during the 1st quarter of 2017.

Globe spent 34.2% of its revenues in 2019 to improve internet services and fulfill its commitment to provide two million homes with at least 10 mbps connectivity by the end of 2020.