Globe Telecom Inc. centered in Quezon City, the Philippines, on Thursday launched its Fifth Generation (5G) fixed wireless services, making it the first ever telecommunications company (telco) in Southeast Asia to do so. The company is reportedly partnering with Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. for the development of its 5G network, which will be soon launched through a home broadband service initially.
In a statement, president and CEO Ernest Cu said Home Air Fiber 5G will enable it to connect more Filipinos at home given the external challenges of deploying fibre cables in the country.
“The arrival of 5G has caused excitement in the global world of telecommunications. Today, we made a crucial step in fulfilling our goal of connecting more Filipino homes, and our vision of bringing first-world internet to the Philippines. ”
The Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G postpaid plans are likely to offer fiber-like speeds up to 100Mbps and super-sized data packages of up to 2 terabytes will be initially available in select areas in Pasig, Cavite, and Bulacan.
The service also reinforces the company’s goal to connect two million homes by 2020.
“Prior to Air Fiber 5G, we have aggressively used fixed wireless solutions to connect more homes and businesses to the Internet over airwaves.”
One of the major perks of partnering with Huawei is that their hardware is more affordable for telcos compared to any other provider which in turn allows companies to sell services at a lower cost. In addition, Huawei is considered to be the leader in 5G business, ahead of its competitors such as Nokia.
5G broadband uses a wireless radio to transmit data rather than using optic cables. 5G broadband will be beneficial in a country like the Philippines where lots of people do not have access to fast connections due to poor infrastructure. This will mean that more people will get online at fast speeds without the need for lots of cables to be installed.
Discussing the launch, Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu, said:
“Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G makes use of fixed location wireless radios instead of fiber optic cables which enables the company to go over the circuitous approval process of deploying a fiber optic cable – a task which proves to be arduous and involves securing multiple permits from local government units (LGUs). The right of process can sometimes take years to obtain, causing drastic delays in fiber optic roll-out completion.”