Nearly 1,500 sites upgraded Smart fires up last mile, all Visayas sites now with LTE

PLDT’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) fires up its last remaining site in the Visayas, officially upgrading all its sites in the area with LTE. The activation of LTE in far-flung coastal community Kawayan, a fifth-class municipality in island province Biliran, Eastern Visayas brings to nearly 1500 the number of sites in the region now operating on LTE or Long-Term Evolution, increasing the capacity and speed of wireless data networks. The rollout is part of Smart’s scaled up expansion of its LTE-powered network across the Philippines.

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To date, all of Smart’s sites in the Visayas are already on LTE. Smart has also expanded LTE capacity in the Visayas by 31% compared to end-2019.

This includes the recent activation in Barangay Tucdao, a far-flung coastal community in the fifth-class municipality of Kawayan located in the island province of Biliran in Eastern Visayas.

“Rolling out in an archipelago and in the countryside presents unique challenges. This has to be taken into consideration. Recently, we fired up an LTE base station in Pag-asa Island in the municipality of Kalayaan, the country’s most remote cell site. We have also fired up a cell site in Brgy Tucdao, Kawayan in Biliran. These are far-flung communities, but we are committed to doing this. We have been constantly improving our services by expanding our network wherever possible,” said Mario G. Tamayo, PLDT-Smart Senior Vice President for Network Planning and Engineering.

Gina Ang, former Kawayan mayor, said that Smart’s improved connectivity in their town will help boost the economic activities in the area, as well as help students and teachers in Brgy Tucdao transition to online and blended learning amid the pandemic.

“Before the pandemic, students used to flock to the old municipal hall to access the internet for their school activities. Reliable connectivity will also enable seamless communication among LGU employees, which is vital for our continued public service,” said Ang.

Today, the old municipal building functions as a COVID-19 isolation facility, and improved connectivity will definitely help the LGU to closely monitor cases. “Now that Brgy Tucdao has an LTE-powered cell site, more people can look forward to reliable connectivity that can assist us in our day-to-day lives,” Ang added.

Smart LTE in Visayas

Smart LTE is available in the region’s major cities of Cebu, Iloilo, and Bohol, in Tacloban and Ormoc in Leyte, as well as in the Eastern Samar capital city of Borongan, Northern Samar capital of Catarman City, and Western cities of Catbalogan and Calbayog.

As of end-August, Smart had increased the number of LTE base stations by 15% to 28,200 nationwide, in order to provide reliable mobile connectivity and address the increasing demand of customers due to COVID-19 pandemic, where most employees and students are at home.

Meanwhile, PLDT has also expanded its fiber network across the country. PLDT’s fiber footprint, the most extensive in the country at more than 382,500 kilometers, also supports Smart’s wireless network by providing high-capacity fiber connections for LTE-powered stations.

This accelerated network rollout forms part of the PLDT group’s sustained investments in their network, which have totaled some Php260 billion from 2015 to 2019. With the regained momentum of its network rollout efforts following the easing of lockdown restrictions, PLDT has leveled up its target capital expenditures for 2020 back up to Php70 billion or more.