Globe Telecom Inc. said it is aggressively expanding its network in the Visayas to provide fast and reliable connectivity to households and businesses recovering from the impact of the pandemic.
The telecom unit of the Ayala Group said it built 129 new cell towers and upgraded 1,126 cell sites to 4G LTE in the first nine months of the year. This additional infrastructure is necessary to meet the increased demand for connectivity for work, learning and leisure and support the growing tourism and IT-BPO industries in the region, it said.
Another Globe project, the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network, also addresses the need for reliable communications through fiberization. The joint venture with Eastern Communications and InfiniVAN Inc. will lay down the country’s longest domestic subsea cable project.
The $150-million project landed in several areas in the Visayas, paving the way for fiber connectivity. The project’s Visayas landing sites include Iloilo City; Bacolod City; Roxas City; Palompon, Leyte; Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu; Talisay City, Cebu; Tagbilaran City; Baclayon, Bohol; San Carlos City; Toledo City; Caticlan, Aklan; and Boracay, Aklan.
“At Globe, we are committed to providing the best services to our customers, and our network improvements, especially in the regions, are a key part of that effort,” said Patrick Gloria, director for external affairs in the Visayas and Mindanao and regional lead for the Globe Visayas leadership team.
“By investing in infrastructure and innovation, we are able to deliver a world-class network that improves the lives of the people in the Visayas and across the Philippines,” Gloria said.
Globe’s network rollout in the Visayas is a part of its overall investment in infrastructure and innovation to deliver a first-world network nationwide.
The company reported capital expenditures of P74.4 billion from January to September, a 14-percent increase from the same period last year. About 84 percent of the capex was allocated to data requirements including 1,064 new cell sites, 10,600 mobile sites upgraded to LTE and 1,887 new 5G sites nationwide.