Globe Telecom of the Philippines yesterday announced ambitious plans to roll out a further 2,000 sites for 3G mobile and WiMAX services this year. The country’s number two operator by subscribers is further promising faster internet access speeds thanks to its recent investment in a regional cable system. Globe’s chief of business and carrier services, Gil B. Genio, told reporters that the company intends to ramp up its 3G and WiMAX networks. ‘We plan to add 1,000 sites for both 3G and WiMAX throughout the year, not necessarily through building new sites but also upgrading our old sites to handle the systems,’ he said. As at 31 December 2009 Globe Telecom had a total of 3,000 3G sites, 900 WiMAX sites and 60,000 regular cellular sites.

Globe Telecom is concentrating its WiMAX push in urban areas where demand for data transfer is much greater. The 3G network will be used to cover both urban and rural areas he added. Network upgrades will comprise additional antennas on existing towers as the cost of building stand-alone physical structures for 3G or WiMAX would not be cost-effective, he noted. Globe counted 320,000 broadband subscribers as at November 2009, mainly due to the higher take-up of its ‘Tattoo’ mobile broadband service.

 source:telegeography