Smart Communications said more subscribers are now on LTE amid sustained network improvement efforts and ramped-up migration campaigns.
Smart’s improved LTE network, along with redoubled efforts to encourage subscribers to move up to LTE, resulted in an 82-percent increase in the number of LTE data users compared a year ago.
Smart increased the number of its 4G/LTE base stations by about 5,500 in the first nine months of 2019, pushing the number of total LTE base stations across Smart’s network to about 21,700.
“By encouraging our customers to shift to LTE, we can achieve our goal of providing them the best customer experience,” said Smart president and chief executive Alfredo Panlilio.
Mobile service revenues in the first nine months of the year rose 20 percent year-on-year to P52.6 billion, with mobile internet revenues growing 47 percent to P34.5 billion.
This is on the back of the surge in mobile internet traffic of Smart, TNT and Sun mobile brands, which reached 1.1 exabytes (1106 PB), twice as large as the volume recorded in the same period last year.
Internet traffic in the third quarter increased 20 percent from the previous quarter.
Driving the dramatic increase in data traffic are the use of video and e-games that both require the support of a good mobile network.
The share of data and broadband to PLDT’s total service revenues continued to increase. It is now at 66 percent, up from 60 percent in the same period last year.
The sustained improvement of the PLDT-Smart network has been supported by a stepped-up capital expenditures program estimated at P78.4 billion in 2019, with P53.4 billion already spent at the end of September.
The capex for 2019 funded investments in network and IT systems, including those in increased LTE coverage and capacity, expanded fiber transport and new international cable networks, as well as the rollout of last-mile installation and customer premises equipment for fixed broadband.
