Cirtek Holdings Philippines Inc. said a subsidiary bagged a multi-million contract from a Silicon Valley-based tech company to produce 5G-supporting chipsets to be used in fiber optic networks.
Cirtek said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Wednesday unit Cirtek Advanced Technologies and Solutions Inc., which manufactures microwave and millimeter, would start production of 5G chipsets by the fourth quarter. A single chipset enables data processing speeds of up to 400 gigabits per second in optical networks.
“Such capability, when used collectively will allow great scalability and cater to the growing data processing requirements of an increasingly networked society. CATSI is capitalizing its decades of history and experience in specialized Microwave Integrated Circuit assembly and test know-how capabilities to begin production for the chipsets by Q4 2020” Cirtek Holdings chief finance officer Brian Gregory Liu said.
Cirtek also reported that US-based subsidiary Quintel USA Inc. obtained approval for the use of nine antennas for 5G mobile network deployment previously used for the US government’s navy, aircraft and satellites.
The new range of antennas are equipped with Citizens Broadband Radio Service frequencies. This frequency band, previously reserved for the Federal Government’s navy, aircraft and satellite applications, was released for commercial use by the Federal Communications Commission on Jan. 27, 2020.
Under the FCC rule, wireless carriers may deploy 5G mobile networks using the CBRS spectrum without acquiring additional licenses.
“Quintel is very excited to participate in the nationwide swap out of existing antennas to add CBRS functionality on top of current infrastructure. This comes at an opportune time when the pandemic has forced millions of companies and employees to work from home thereby shifting rapid growth and traffic to voice and data networks,” Cirtek vice chairman and president Jorge Aguilar said.
Quintel USA Inc. also launched in May a new generation of antennas designed for the US national rollout of 5G services.
Share price of Cirtek fell by 8.5 percent to settle at P7.66 on Wednesday.
