Globe Telecom Inc. launched the country’s first commercial fifth-generation (5G) fixed wireless broadband services, beating rival PLDT Inc. and other telecommunication companies in Southeast Asia.
Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu said the Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G would enable the company to connect more Filipinos at home given the external challenges of rolling out fiber optic 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,” Cu added.
The Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G postpaid plans, which offer fiber-like speeds up to 100 Mbps and super-sized data packages of up to 2 terabytes, will be initially available in select areas in Pasig, Cavite and Bulacan.
Cu said the Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G would reinforce the efforts of achieving the company’s goal to connect two million homes by 2020.
“Prior to Air Fiber 5G, we have aggressively utilized fixed wireless solutions to connect more homes and businesses to the internet over airwaves. This strategy resulted in home broadband subscriber base increasing by 55.1 percent to 1.7 million in the first three months of 2019 from 1.1 million in the same period in 2016,” Cu said.
Globe at Home Air Fiber 5G will be available to eligible customers in July 2019. Plans come at P1,899 per month for up to 20 Mbps, P2,499 for up to 50 Mbps and P2,899 for up to 100 Mbps. All come with up to 2 TB data capacity.
“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),” Cu said.
“The right of process can sometimes take years to obtain, causing drastic delays in fiber optic roll-out completion,” he added.