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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

E-load sellers see improved business

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With better mobile data connectivity now in place in Quezon City, small business owners like Agnes Atchuela, whose sari-sari store is on A. Roces Ave., are feeling the boost in their earnings as well. 

Better mobile data experience also means better business

“I’m a mobile data user myself, so I have also noticed that the connection is faster these days,” said Atchuela, who also owns a canteen beside her sari-sari store. “More people are loading up, and they’re buying higher load denominations, which is why our income has also increased.”

Atchuela’s sari-sari store is open 24 hours, and sales are brisk as early as 5 am when workers and students start their days. “Sales also pick up around the end of the day, 6 to 8 pm, when they come home from their offices and schools, as well as around the end of the week and near paydays,” she explained. 

“I hope the network keeps improving, so our businesses would, too,” she added. 

Fellow sari-sari store owners Antipolo Deterala and Marissa Marquez, whose stores are also in Quezon City, have also felt the network improvement’s impact on their own incomes. 

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“The network is stronger than before, and because of this our sales have doubled,” said Marquez. “I was surprised to see young people loading up. I thought they were going to use it for calls, but when I asked they said it was for mobile games. They said the improved network has also improved their gameplay.”

Deterala reports similar feedback from her own customers. “They say the connection is faster now than before,” she said.

Apart from mobile games, more customers are also using the improved network to stream videos on YouTube. Until July 15, Smart, TNT and Sun prepaid customers registering to load packages like GigaSurf99, AllOutSurf99, GigaSurf 50, AllOutSurf 30, Panalo Data 30, Panalo Combo 30, Super Combo 20, and Big Time Data 70 can watch YouTube for one hour for free daily. They can enjoy this special offer for the duration of the packages that they buy.

LTE-A roll-out

Smart is accelerating its deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and carrier aggregation across the country as part of Smart’s efforts to improve mobile data experience nationwide. 

Carrier aggregation (CA) is a feature of LTE-A which enables the combination of two or more radio frequency bands in order to deliver much faster data speeds to mobile phone users. 2-Component Carrier (2CC) carrier aggregation features the combination of two frequencies, while 3CC involves the combination of three frequencies and 4CC combines four bands.

Smart is rolling out up to 3CC to 4CC aggregation across Metro Manila and in other areas where there is a concentration of users and devices, like in urban hubs and tourist destinations with heavy foot-traffic.

In Quezon City, where Smart has already activated carrier aggregation combining up to 5 frequency bands, internal tests showed customers enjoying download speeds ranging from 30 Mbps to 200 Mbps, depending on density of traffic and handset capability. As a result, average daily data revenue and LTE device usage in Metro Manila’s most populous city grew by 23% and 33%, respectively, between September 2017 and March 2018.

In Marikina, where 5 component carrier (5CC) aggregation has likewise been launched, small business owners and retailers have also reported an increase in earnings, boosted by improved mobile internet experience in their area.

Smart has also expanded its network coverage to include high foot traffic areas such as tourist spots like Baguio, Sagada, Batanes, and Sarangani, among others, in line with its commitment to the National Telecommunications Commission to bring high-speed mobile data using LTE, LTE-A and 3G to over 90% of the country’s cities and municipalities.

In 2018, Smart is doubling the number of LTE base stations to about 17,700 nationwide and raising the number of LTE-equipped cell sites to more than 6,800 this year, using frequencies that are compatible with CA-capable smartphones available in the market today.

Parent company PLDT has committed historic levels of resources to support network transformation. Capital expenditures is expected to reach P58 billion this year, including allocations for the aggressive rollout of its fiber broadband service, which also supports the stepped-up deployment of the mobile network by providing high-capacity links for cellular base stations. 

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