SMART Communications, Inc. is targeting to make its Long Term Evolution (LTE) service available to 50% of the country’s cities and municipalities by the end of the year as it continues to rollout in more areas nationwide.

“We are committed to bring Smart LTE to more areas in the Philippines and to make it available to even more Filipinos,” PLDT and Smart Senior Vice-President for Network Planning and Engineering Mario G. Tamayo said in a statement.

“We target to blanket with LTE close to half of the country’s cities and municipalities, covering 70% of the population, by the end of this year,” he added.

In its three-year network rollout plan that parent company PLDT, Inc., submitted to the National Telecommunications Commission in July last year, Smart said it will make LTE progressively available to 95% of the country’s cities and municipalities by the end of 2018.

LTE delivers superior experience for users, particularly for data. It can also be quickly upgraded to LTE-A, which can provide even faster speeds and greater capacity to subscribers who are using LTE SIMs on LTE-capable handsets.

The wireless subsidiary of PLDT said gains from the ongoing network upgrade can already be felt in the areas where the rollout is taking place, with subscribers already reporting better network performance.

Smart quoted a recent study from J.P. Morgan, which covered the March to May period, as saying its LTE service still leads in terms of download speeds nationwide, as well as across all areas.

According to the study, on the nationwide level Smart LTE posted an average download speed of 11.1 megabits per second (Mbps), while across areas it ranged from 9.2 Mbps in South Luzon to 12.6 Mbps in Metro Manila.

“PLDT’s Smart has significant momentum in LTE speeds across all circles measured. This implies a higher likelihood of market share gains going forward, with potentially better pricing power,” the J.P. Morgan report stated, which cited crowd-sourced data gathered by wireless coverage research firm OpenSignal, an app where mobile data users can run their own speed tests.

Smart said the study also showed Smart LTE availability improving nationwide to 51.5%, up from 45.54% in February. Across areas, Smart LTE availability also improved, ranging from 42.62% in South Luzon to 60.13% in Metro Manila in the latest report, an improvement from when it ranged from 38% to 49% in February.

“Findings show that Smart is on track toward meeting its three-year network roll-out plan submitted to the National Telecommunications Commission,” Smart said in its statement over the weekend.

The wireless giant noted that internal tests have also shown improvements in speed in areas involved in the ongoing network rollout.

Smart said average LTE download speeds in northern Metro Manila, for example, are at 21.7 Mbps, while speeds are at 14.6 Mbps on average using Smart’s LTE service in southern Metro Manila. In Cebu, on the other hand, average download speeds on Smart’s LTE service are at 20.1 Mbps.

Smart is currently re-equipping its cell sites to use low-frequency bands such as 700 megahertz (MHz) and 850 MHz to provide better indoor coverage. It is also deploying high-frequency bands like 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz to increase the cell sites’ capacity to handle more calls, texts, and ever-increasing mobile data traffic.

At the same time, the latest J.P Morgan study also found that Globe had an average LTE download speed of 6.65 Mbps and 2.08 Mbps for its 3G service.

Sought for comment, Globe Telecom, Inc. Senior Vice-President for Corporate Communications Ma. Yolanda C. Crisanto said: “Globe LTE network is the most pervasive and present in most areas. We are working now on making our LTE service via an LTE SIM and device available to as many people as possible.”

“For the customer, what’s important is experience — good upload/download speed, no latency, and of course good content. This is what we are providing to our customers,” Ms. Crisanto said in a mobile phone reply.

Globe earlier announced it is also investing bulk of its $750-million capital expenditure this year in data-related projects, modernization of fixed line data infrastructure, and requirements for transmission facilities and for the deployment of more LTE, and for rollout of data as it plans to leverage on its additional spectrum from San Miguel’s telco assets, which it jointly acquired with PLDT.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Imee Charlee C. Delavin

By Krista A. M. Montealegre,
National Correspondent

THE Filinvest group, Inc. (FLI) may take in a Japanese partner for a big-ticket real estate project, as several firms court the Gotianun family for potential joint ventures.

Cyberzone Properties, Inc. (CPI) President Joseph M. Yap told reporters on Friday the Filinvest group has been attracting “a steady stream” of potential investors from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and China who are keen on investing in the Philippines.

Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the holding firm of the Gotianun family, has interests in real estate development, banking, power, and sugar farming and milling. CPI, a subsidiary of property arm Filinvest Land, Inc., develops office buildings.

“There are many people interested (for joint ventures), but we don’t need money. There’s a lot of interest in the Philippines,” Mr. Yap said.

The Filinvest group, however, may “invite” partners for a large-scale project like the 288-hectare (ha) portion of the 9,450-ha Clark Green City in Pampanga. It is already in talks with Japanese companies for a potential partnership.

“The industrial park section, we might be open to an investor there who can add value. If we are able to bring in a partner and they can bring locators then it makes sense,” Mr. Yap said.

Japanese firms are eager to participate in the country’s robust growth story and diversify their investments after investing heavily in China and Thailand in the previous years, Mr. Yap said.

“They think the Philippine growth story is good. We’ve had a long history of growth in the country and I don’t think they think that the basics have changed,” he said.

The country’s gross domestic product grew 6.4% in the first quarter of 2017, the second strongest among emerging Asian countries after China.

Last year, the company signed a joint venture agreement with the Bases Conversion Development Authority for a 288-ha., mixed-use development in the 9,450-ha.ClarkGreen City. The part that will be developed by the Filinvest group will feature a 100-ha. industrial estate that will be complemented by residential, office and mall components.

Apart from Clark Green City, the Filinvest group also secured a long-term lease deal for another property in the northern corridor: the 201.64-ha. Mimosa Leisure Estate.

SIXTY SECURITIES have been found to be compliant with Shariah principles as of end-June, according to a review published by the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

This is the highest number of Shariah-compliant stocks since October 2015, and two more than the 58 seen as of end March.

The PSE found the following 60 securities to be complying with the principles of Islamic finance by the end of the review period on June 25:

IdealRatings, Inc. conducts the screening of the listed companies based on the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Finance Institutions (AAOIFI) standards for Shariah compliance.

To be considered Shariah-compliant, firms must not engage in businesses involving conventional interest-based lending, financial institutions, insurance, mortgage and lease, derivatives, pork, alcohol, tobacco, arms and weapons, embryonic stem-cell research, hotels, gambling, casinos, music, cinema and adult entertainment, among others.

Should they be involved in such, investments should not exceed 5% of the total revenue of the company.

The stock should further limit its interest-bearing debt as well as deposits and investments to 30% of its 12-month trailing average market capitalization. The share of its accounts receivable should be limited to 67%. — ABF