MEGAWIDE Construction Corp. secured a P10.1-billion contract to construct Mandani Bay Quay Phase 2 in Mandaue City, Cebu, allowing it to breach its target for new contracts this year.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the engineering and infrastructure conglomerate said it was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the project by HTLand, Inc., a joint venture between Hongkong Land and Taft Property Venture Development Corp.
The project covers a floor area of 328,000 sq.m., where three 40-storey residential towers, one 30-storey office building, and commercial spaces are set to stand.
Megawide will start building the first tower this year, including the amenities area, commercial spaces, and parking level. This is scheduled to be completed by 2021.
The second and third towers will be completed within the first half of 2022 and first quarter of 2023, respectively. The office tower is scheduled for completion by the fourth quarter of 2022.
“With this large-scale, mixed-use development, we are solidifying Megawide’s engineering footprint in Cebu. It is truly a first-world project and we are committed to delivering the highest standards of engineering and construction,” Megawide Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Edgar B. Saavedra said in a statement.
This allows the company to further expand its footprint in Cebu, where it also operates the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in a consortium with Indian firm GMR Infrastructure Ltd.
“We are further strengthening our operational efficiency in the region. It will be a good complement to our airport operations and our other ongoing EPC projects in the area,” Mr. Saavedra said. In March, Megawide was tapped by the Gaisano group to develop Taft East Gate Phase 1 in Cebu City under a P2.5-billion contract.
The HTLand deal is the largest Megawide has signed under its construction segment this year, allowing the company to hit its P24-billion target in new contracts in 2018.
Megawide bagged P16.8 billion worth of new contracts in the first nine months of 2018, 55% higher than the new contracts it had for full year 2017.
“Our prospects in the EPC business remain very bullish as we continue to expand our order book levels and ensure revenue visibility for the next two to three years,” Mr. Saavedra said.
Revenues from Megawide’s construction segment went down by 17% in the nine months ending September, which the company attributed to the cyclical nature of the business. With this, Megawide’s attributable profit fell by four percent to P1.32 billion in the first nine months of 2018.
Shares in Megawide jumped 6.31% or P1.06 to close at P17.86 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia
PLDT, Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. made its first fifth generation (5G) to 5G video call on Wednesday, two weeks after it fired up its first 5G cell sites in Makati City and Clark, Pampanga.
The company’s chief technology and information advisor Joachim Horn made the call from the PLDT headquarters in Makati City to Clark Development Corp. president and chief executive officer Noel F. Manankil in the Clark Freeport Zone.
Technology partners Huawei in Makati and Ericsson in Clark provided the 5G radio and core equipment that enabled the devices to connect to the upgraded network.
The telco firm said it will fire up more cell sites across Makati in the next months.
PLDT Chairman, President and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said while it may take some time for the commercial rollout of the 5G technology, he expects Enterprise and Home customers to benefit as early as 2019.
Ernesto R. Alberto, PLDT’s chief revenue officer, said Samsung is already working on a 5G-ready cellular phone, targeting its release by late 2019 at the earliest, and commercial adoption by 2020.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez
By Elin McCoy, Bloomberg
THE PROSECCO boom is real: Sales are projected to reach 412 million bottles annually by 2020, up from 150 million a decade ago.
But, ho-hum, that’s old news.
Time to move on to what’s next: under-the-radar, world-class bubblies from Northern Italy’s Franciacorta and Trentino regions. Unlike populist Prosecco, these are made with the same grapes and labor-intensive method used in Champagne, which gives them similar style and elegance but at a much lower price on average than their French counterparts. Their quality keeps getting better, too, thanks to avant-garde wine makers pushing organic viticulture techniques.
These wines have been overlooked because the regions are small and little of what they produced was making it out of the country. That’s changing, however. Worldwide demand for sparkling wine is on the rise, and Italian producers see an opportunity to capitalize on Prosecco’s popularity in the US and UK as both large and small producers of other wines focus on quality, importers are seeking them out. Online retailers have added more labels in the US, and wine shops have started stocking a few of the brands.
Franciacorta is the name of both the region and the wine. Compared to Champagne, which produces about 300 million bottles annually, the 117 wineries in Franciacorta make fewer than 20 million bottles a year and export a mere 11% of that. Trentodoc, the trademark for Trentino’s sparkling wines, is even smaller: Just 51 producers will pump out 8 million to 9 million bottles a year, exporting 20%. And neither region boasts wineries with the centuries-old tall-tale history of a monk “drinking stars” like the legendary Dom Perignon in Champagne.
But vineyards have been in both places for centuries, even though Franciacorta’s serious sparkling wine lineage only dates to the 1960s. Franciacorta, about an hour from the fashion hub of Milan, is in the foothills of the Alps near Lago d’Iseo, where the artist Christo created a floating pier spectacle two years ago. The high-altitude Trentodoc lies in the shadows of the craggy Dolomite mountains, northeast of Lake Garda. The modern history of sparkling wines in this region goes back to 1902, when the now-famous Ferrari winery (no relation to the maker of sports cars) planted chardonnay grapes.
Chardonnay and pinot noir, plus a bit of pinot blanc, are the most important grapes, but some Franciacorta wine makers, worried about global warming, are beginning to embrace the native white grape erbamat, which has a longer growing period than chardonnay and maintains high acidity even when the grapes get very ripe.
Both regions make a variety of styles, but Franciacorta also has its own all-white grape blend labeled satèn (“silk” in Italian). It’s creamier, with a softer effervescence and is meant as an aperitivo.
The bubbles get into the wine via the metodo classico, the same way they do it in Champagne. The base wine is bottled with yeast and a small amount of sugar to create a second fermentation, trapping CO2 in the bottle, and the wine is aged for 15 months to 60 months. In Franciacorta, most wine makers are starting to use very little or no of sugar before release. Labeled “zero dosaggio” or “nature,” these wines have extra energy and purity.
What all this means is that these wines doesn’t taste like Champagne. They are fresh and lively, but also riper, with less edgy acidity and more creamy peach and pear flavors. Here are nine of my favorites. Trentodoc (L-R): 2011 Ferrari Perlé Brut and 2013 Rotari Brut Rosé
• 2011 Ferrari Perlé Brut. This creamy-textured all-chardonnay sparkler comes from the largest estate in the region, owned by the Lunelli family. It has aromas of lush almond and freshly baked bread with flavors of apple and white peach. $36
• 2013 Rotari Brut Rosé. A blend of pinot noir and chardonnay that tastes of strawberries and ripe cherries. It has lip-smacking brightness and is terrific for the price. $18 Franciacorta
• NV Il Mosnel Franciacorta Brut. Mosnel (new labels don’t show the Il) is located in the heart of Franciacorta. Crisp, bright, salty, and rich, this combo of chardonnay, pinot blanc, and just a bit of pinot noir over-delivers for the price. $25
• NV Ronco Calino Satèn Brut. A small producer (only 5,000 cases a year), Ronco Calino was founded 23 years ago. This 100% chardonnay is an Italian version of blanc de blancs. Citrusy, mineral, and fresh, it has a creamy texture and is ideal with spicy appetizers. $29
• 2014 Arcari + Danesi Dosaggio Zero. Giovanni Arcari and Nico Danesi are regional rebels, constantly experimenting to make a fizz that’s highly original and distinct from Champagne. This bottling, 90% chardonnay and 10% pinot blanc, is silky textured and complex, with floral and golden apple aromas and fruit and mineral flavors. $35
• NV Ca del Bosco Cuvee Prestige Brut. One of the region’s largest producers, Ca del Bosco also makes top cuvées such as the exotic Annamaria Clementi, which are hard to find. More easily obtainable is this sleek, basic bottling. It’s a mostly chardonnay blend with some pinot noir and pinot blanc that has minty aromas and savory, spicy taste. $35
• NV Ferghettina Rosé Brut. Fizz from this solid, relatively new producer includes this frothy, delicate pink, 100% pinot noir in a gorgeous clear bottle. It has bright cherry and floral aromas and flavors, with plenty of structure. $50
• 2012 Monte Rossa Cabochon Brut. An intense blend of 70% chardonnay and 30% pinot noir, it’s smoky and serious with aromas of citrus and toasted hazelnuts. It’s sharp and mouth-cleansing — in a good way. $70
• 2006 Bellavista Franciacorta Extra Brut Vittorio Moretti. Entry-level wines from this fine producer set a high standard. This flagship is from the vineyard’s best chardonnay and pinot noir grapes, and it’s superb. Harmonious and golden, it’s filled with flavors of citrus, caramel, and yellow fruits. $120
WE KNOW we have seafood in abundance here, Manila, but let’s give US-based Red Lobster a chance.
Earlier this year, American seafood chain Red Lobster announced it was opening in Manila, through a partnership with the Bistro Group, which has under its umbrella the franchises for TGI Friday’s and Buffalo Wild Wings, among other brands.
At a tasting, Jarrett Whitlow, Senior Director for International Operations said, “We’ve just admired the Bistro Group for so long. It was really important for us to ensure that we partnered ourselves with who we felt was the best operator in the market.”
Red Lobster was founded in Florida in the 1960s. It is now owned by Golden Gate Capital (which incidentally, also owns California Pizza Kitchen). Its first international expansion was in Japan, and is now found in various locations in North and South America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. The 115-seater in S Maison in the SM Mall of Asia complex is its 750th location.
While it’s the fashion these days to eat local, and this seafood-rich country may be tapped for other ingredients and resources, but Red Lobster’s main product, lobster and crab legs, will rely on the company’s international supply chain to bring the goodies here. “For us, it’s really important to bring the wild-caught North American species to international markets,” said Mr. Whitlow. TASTING
The tasting meal last week started out with the Cheddar Bay Biscuits, flaky and tasty, and offered with continuous refills.
While this reporter can live without the Seaside Nachos (with Japanese mayonnaise and katsuboshi flakes) and the pizzas, and the honey and blue cheese salad, and the clam chowder, I can say that the wait for the lobster and the Alaskan Snow Crab legs, both in the Ultimate Feast, was well worth it. Coming out of the shell, fresh, sweetish, and tender, it almost feels like I ate it fresh out of a fisherman’s boat.
“Our North American lobsters are brought to the restaurants still alive, so it’s the freshest thing on the menu,” said Mr. Whitlow.
According to a release, the company “is committed to the advocacy of obtaining seafood in a ‘traceable, sustainable, and responsible’ method. All seafood are 100% traceable to a known and trusted source and from suppliers who follow the most responsible industry practices. Red Lobster is dedicated to protect and preserve the oceans and marine life for future generations.”
Again, is Red Lobster in a seafood-rich city well worth it? We would think so, and Mr. Whitlow pointed out one of their mottos, which was, “Keep the Maine thing the main thing.” “That’s the idea for us, is to be able to really be different by being who we are, and sticking to our DNA.” — Joseph L. Garcia
By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a memorandum circular directing companies to declare their beneficial owner to ensure that they will not be used for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes.
In SEC Memorandum Circular No. 17 posted on its website yesterday, the SEC said it is revising the General Information Sheet (GIS) to include beneficial ownership information. This covers all SEC-registered domestic stock and non-stock corporations.
The SEC defines beneficial owner as any natural person who “ultimately owns or controls the corporation,” or “has ultimate effective control over the corporation.”
It further explained that ultimate effective control refers to “any situation in which ownership or control is exercised through actual or a chain of ownership or by means other than direct control.”
Ultimate effective ownership may be achieved through several ways, such as direct or indirect ownership of at least 25% of any category of voting shares. The person may also have the “ability to elect a majority of the board of directors, or any similar body, of a legal person or arrangement.”
With the memorandum circular, the beneficial owner must provide the SEC with his/her complete name, specific residential address, nationality, tax identification number, as well as percentage of ownership, if applicable.
In cases where the company is owned through multiple layers, they should identify any intermediate layers of their ownership structure. This should be illustrated in an ownership chart showing the intermediate layers with their corresponding ownership amounts.
The SEC said it will validate the beneficial ownership information through an onsite inspection of the company’s books and records, or through other means available.
The requirement is also in line with the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which seeks to “ensure timely access to adequate, accurate, and current information on the beneficial ownership and control of SEC-registered corporations and prevent their misuse for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes.”
The new GIS forms will be implemented starting Jan. 1, 2019.
MOBILE LENDING platform Cashalo introduced a consumer purchase loan product allowing customers to borrow funds for their specific shopping needs, in line with its financial inclusion push.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, the digital lending firm introduced Cashacart, a basket financing solution which enables clients to borrow between P2,000 and P19,999 to purchase items from Cashalo’s 250 retail partners.
The loan, which can be approved in as fast as 10 minutes, is payable up to nine months and carries an interest rate for as low as 3.99% per month. The service is paperless and does not require collateral.
“Unlike traditional consumer financing solutions that are restrictive, Cashacart gives consumers the freedom and flexibility to purchase multiple products that they need…” Cashalo said.
To mitigate bad loans, Cashalo Head of Sales Gerard M. Betita said the firm starts at the store level where its agents are trained to screen the customers.
“Our sales officers are trained and equipped to explain all the loans, the parameters and the details,” Mr. Betita told BusinessWorld in an interview. “Mitigating risk is part of the risk management system, and we start it at the store level thorough our sales officers.”
Hamilton C. Angluben, Cashalo general manager, added that the lending firm is leveraging on advanced data science to assess risks and mitigate fraud.
“After the store level, that’s when we leverage on technology. We’re doing [artificial intelligence], machine learning, facial recognition and all these anti-fraud algorithms, so it’s coupled with advanced data science,” he said.
Moving forward, Mr. Angluben said it is “more prudent” to expand the basket financing service by saturating high-density areas first before going into rural areas.
“If you look at the retail industry…they’re having deeper penetration in the rural areas. In the same way, if they’re going to be there, we are also going to be there in the future,” he said.
Currently, Mr. Betita said Cashacart can only go “as rural as” areas near Metro Manila such as Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, and Batangas.
Cashalo is a joint venture between Gokongwei-controlled JG Summit Holdings and Hong Kong-based financial technology firm Oriente.
It lends money between P1,500 and P10,000 through its mobile platform. Application is done online, requiring clients to submit documents and IDs digitally.
In a previous interview, Mr. Angluben said the financing company aims to have a million clients by the first half of 2019 as it eyes to serve unbanked and underserved Filipinos through technology. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal
MANILA WATER Company, Inc. (MWC) has been awarded joint venture agreements by Lambunao Water District (LWD) and Calinog Water District (CWD) for two separate water supply systems in the province of Iloilo.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the Ayala-controlled water concessionaire said it received the Notice of Award from the LWD for a joint venture for the design, construction, rehabilitation, maintenance, operation, financing, expansion, and management of the municipality of Lambunao’s water supply system.
MWC and LWD are set to enter into a joint venture agreement for the project, to be handled by Aqua Centro MWPV Corp., a wholly-owned unit of Manila Water Philippine Ventures, Inc. (MWPV). In turn, MWPV is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MWC.
In a separate disclosure, MWC said it has also entered into a similar agreement with CWD. Here, the listed firm will form a joint venture with CWD for the design, construction, rehabilitation, maintenance, operation, financing, expansion, and management of a water supply system in the municipality of Calinog.
Aqua Centro will also be the one to undertake the project.
MWC holds the water concession for the eastern side of greater Manila. Last month, it also announced the construction of a P742-million water supply system in San Fabian town in Pangasinan. MWPV will handle the project, which is expected to be operational by 2019.
The company has also been recently awarded a water supply project from the Tanauan Water District, where MWPV will design, improve, upgrade, rehabilitate, and expand the town’s water supply and sanitation facilities.
MWC booked an attributable profit of P4.93 billion in the first nine months of 2018, flat from the P4.89 billion it realized in the same period a year ago. Gross revenues meanwhile rose by seven percent to P14.43 billion.
Shares in MWC climbed 2.15% or 55 centavos to close at P26.10 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia
FITBIT, Inc. has launched its latest fitness tracker Fitbit Charge 3 — part of its advanced product line — in the Philippines.
The fitness tracker is equipped with a new premium design, improved health and fitness sensors, and smartphone features.
An upgrade to the wearable technology firm’s Charge line, the Fitbit Charge 3 is made from aluminum versus its predecessor’s stainless steel material. Its higher resolution display is a grayscale OLED touchscreen. The tracker also has a battery life of up to seven days, which a charge time of about two hours. It saves seven days of detailed motion data, daily totals for the last 30 days, and heart rate data at one-second and five-second intervals.
The Fitbit Charge 3 is also water resistant for up to 50 meters.
Other features include a PurePulse heart rate tracker, female health tracker, sleep tracker, and more than fifteen modes of goal-based exercises.
The device syncs automatically and wirelessly via Bluetooth to computers and iOS, Android, and Windows devices. It also has expanded smartphone features such as mobile app notifications and quick replies on Android.
The Fitbit Charge 3 comes in two core designs: black with aluminum case and blue gray with a rose gold aluminum case. The special edition case designs come in a lavender woven with rose gold aluminum and a white frost sport band with graphite aluminum. Its price starts at P9,990.
In 2007, developments in sensor and wireless technology led Fitbit founders James Park and Eric Friedman to set their mission “to empower and inspire you to live a healthier, more active life.” At present, Fitbit products are sold in over 39,000 retail stores in 86 countries.
“The idea is to help people to give them information so that they can take action to change their behavior. For example, today, I want to start on a journey to lose weight or sleep well. How can I do that? There’s no other way unless I wear something or to give me the information,” WT Soh, Fitbit senior sales training manager for Southeast Asia, told BusinessWorld at the launch on Nov. 15 in Shangri-la at the Fort.
“The idea is to make the change in behavior. Hopefully helping them to stay healthy,” Mr. Soh said.
According to data presented at the launch by Louis Lye, Fitbit regional director for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the Fitbit platform has recorded an engagement value of 5.4 million users who “are very active synchronizing data, and looking at a dashboard, not just how many steps they walk, how many calories the birth use way, but also the quality of their speed.”
Mr. Lye added that 56% of users share their achievements on the Fitbit’s community app.
As of October, Mr. Lye said, Fitbit has already collected 9 trillion minutes of heart-rate data, 157 trillion steps, 7.5 billion nights of sleep and 417 billion minutes of exercise from its 25.4 million active users.
“We are talking about insights which Fitbit continues to leverage on and use to provide useful insights targeted back to the users,” Mr. Lye said. — M.A.P. Soliman
By Richard Vines, Bloomberg
ALBERT ADRIÀ is an unlikely champion of healthy eating.
He’s known for fabulous desserts that are rich in looks and content. They first grabbed attention at El Bulli — a record five times winner of the World’s Best Restaurant title — where he worked with his brother Ferran. And they even have their room in Albert’s Barcelona restaurant Tickets, an international destination for food lovers. Diners move into the La Dolça room for sweet treats.
And now those treats have come to London, after Mr. Adrià opened his first bricks-and-mortar restaurant outside Spain, Cakes and Bubbles, at Hotel Café Royal. There will be many desserts, but not all of them too fattening or sweet.
“I am very conscious about health issues,” Mr. Adrià said in an interview. “OK, there are some traditional recipes where you can’t take out the sugar: an ice cream or a cheesecake or a chocolate cake. But with the recipes that we are creating, in those recipes you can have the lowest sugar possible and the lowest fat content, too.”
Lots of chefs talk about creating something new, but Mr. Adrià is a radical chef known for innovation. He was voted The World’s Best Pastry Chef in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards and has stepped out from behind his brother’s shadow. His seven restaurants include the always-sold-out Tickets; and Enigma, which is divided into seven rooms where diners progress from space to space as they make their way through the lengthy tasting menus.
Mr. Adrià’s most famous dish is probably the Tickets Cheesecake. It is based on Coulommiers (similar to Brie), which it resembles in appearance. But it’s a mousse somewhere between Coulommiers and white chocolate, with a flavor and texture closer to cheese than cake.
He is planning to take it off the menu in Barcelona so that diners have to visit London to try it.
And then there is the Robuchon cake, a tribute to French chef Joël Robuchon, who died in August. It’s a crunchy meringue with beetroot and yuzu. Or how about the Air Pancake, which features yogurt foam piped in with gas? And two kinds of chocolate cake. Classics such as egg flan with dark caramel and homemade donuts will be served alongside fruit cakes, including pineapple with palm honey.
Mr. Adrià prefers to serve a selection of cakes paired with sparkling wines, rather than for guests to just order a slice.
“It’s not going to be a patisserie and it is not going to be a dessert restaurant, but something in between,” he said. “My inspiration is the dessert room I have at Tickets. So the guests when they finish their savory part they are moved to another room and they can share three or four desserts and then maybe have one themselves.”
Once he gets it right in London, he’s open to the idea of rolling out Cakes and Bubbles internationally.
Mr. Adrià is in good company in London. French chef Pierre Hermé has stores in London; and Alain Ducasse recently opened a chocolate shop at the new Coal Drops Yard.
But they don’t have that Tickets Cheesecake. Hotel Café Royal, 68 Regent Street , London, W1B 4DY; +44-20-7406-3310;https://www.cakesandbubbles.co.uk/
By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
BANKS TRIMMED their placements in term deposits yesterday ahead of the long weekend, which drove yields down from last week’s all-time high.
Demand for term deposits offered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) dropped to P59.428 billion on Wednesday from the P98.361 billion received last week. This also settled below the P70 billion the central bank wanted to sell.
Tenders dropped across all tenors, with the one-week papers posting the biggest decline compared to the previous offering.
Banks only wanted to park P28.894 billion under the seven-day term, just half the P54.186 billion placements put forward a week ago. The amount also settled lower than the P40 billion which the BSP placed on the auction block.
Despite the tepid demand, lenders even asked for lower yields at 4.942% to slide from the 4.9738% fetched the previous week. This comes ahead a Friday holiday for Bonifacio Day.
The 14-day tenor also saw weak demand, with lenders only willing to lock in P19.837 billion versus P29.762 billion last week.
This settled below the BSP’s P20 billion offering.
Banks, however, wanted bigger returns at a 5.0715% average, marginally higher than the 5.0596% rate seen previously.
Appetite for the 28-day papers also dropped to P10.697 billion from last week’s P14.413 billion, but managed to fill the entire P10-billion offering made by the central bank. Still, rates fetched this week inched lower to 5.1103% compared to 5.1186% seen during the Nov. 21 exercise.
The term deposit facility has been the central bank’s main avenue in mopping up excess liquidity and influence short-term interest rates. Through the weekly auctions, the BSP can bring market and interbank rates closer to its desired range by setting the standard for short-term instruments via the margins that they pay to banks for these placements.
Yields fetched last week surged to all-time highs as lenders took advantage of another rate hike from the central bank.
Policy makers raised benchmark yields by another 25 basis points on Nov. 15, marking the fifth straight hike from the BSP this year. The increase was dubbed as a “proactive” move amid volatilities in the external market, which brought benchmark rates between 4.25-5.25%.
BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said banks likely chose to hold on to more cash to service a bigger volume of client transactions, which usually trend higher during the Christmas season.
“Market appears confident about the positive prospects of lower inflation for the rest of 2018 and the next two years. Hence, they can afford to have a slightly longer view,” Mr. Guinigundo said. “But in the case of seven days, their placement must really be their excess liquidity after making some allowance for the long weekend.”
THE Department of Energy (DoE) said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Philippine Disaster Resiliency Foundation, Inc. (PDRF) to promote energy resiliency.
Under the MoU, the DoE and PDRF agreed to conduct regular dialogue, develop activities aimed at energy resiliency, conduct joint exercises on disaster response protocols, among others.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi noted the energy resiliency program (ERP) details the government’s disaster reduction risk reduction plans, programs and other activities aimed at minimizing the impact of calamities.
“I am proud to say that prior to the issuance of the ERP, the energy sector has already been proactive in developing resiliency measures,” Mr. Cusi said in a statement.
The MoU was signed by Mr. Cusi, Aboitiz Equity Ventures CEO Erramon M. Aboitiz, Ayala Corp. CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and Philippine Disaster Resiliency Foundation, Inc. President Rene S. Meily. — V.M.P.Galang
MOBILE NETWORK is starting to beat with WiFi connection in terms of average download speed in most parts of the world, with the emergence of fifth generation (5G) network seen to keep this trend going, wireless coverage mapping firm OpenSignal found in a recent study.
In the report “The State of WiFi vs Mobile Network Experience as 5G Arrives” sent to reporters on Tuesday, the company said it studied 7.7 million devices across the globe from August to November and found smartphone users in 33 countries experience faster connection when using a mobile network than WiFi.
In the Philippines, it said the average download speed using a 4G or long term evolution (LTE) network is 2 megabits per second (Mbps) faster than on WiFi, but overall mobile download speed at 6.3 Mbps continues to fall behind the WiFi download speed of 7.6 Mbps.
However, the emergence of 5G networks is expected to propel the mobile network experience to eventually outperform WiFi.
“5G will accelerate the advantage of mobile technology because of the pace of mobile innovation and the dependency of WiFi network experiences on the quality of fixed network broadband deployments which are slow and expensive to upgrade with fiber to the premise (FTTP),” OpenSignal said.
It added the performance of WiFi has started to decline because of challenges such as congestion of airwaves, where multiple users in an area are all trying to ride on the same spectrum at the same time.
Meanwhile, for mobile networks, operators are asked to pay a fee for an exclusive use of frequencies, keeping its performance “more predictable and consistent than WiFi,” it said.
Local telecommunications operators PLDT, Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc. have already started efforts to bring 5G to the Philippines. Two weeks ago, PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. fired up its first two 5G cell sites in Makati City and Clark, Pampanga. Globe is also eyeing to roll out its 5G network by second quarter of 2019.
“The pace of innovation is faster in the mobile industry than in almost any other industry. This will continue with 5G rollouts which help mobile to leapfrog the experience of WiFi in countries where operators are slow to roll out full fiber to the premise connections because of capital cost concerns or logistical issues such as planning approvals,” OpenSignal said.
But it noted that while mobile networks may continue to improve, it will not remove WiFi from the picture as the co-existence of the two will only have to change, especially the notion that WiFi is always faster than mobile network.
“WiFi no longer has a guaranteed advantage over mobile in the speed experience it offers smartphone users. With 5G, there will be many more countries where mobile delivers a faster experience than WiFi. But WiFi still has a role,” it said.
OpenSignal said WiFi remains to be cheaper, more accessible across different devices, and able to handle a bigger capacity compared to mobile network.
However, operators and device manufacturers must start considering the changing landscape that mobile network is starting to gain greater reliability than WiFi.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez
