Globe Telecom will inaugurate its Guba cell site, its second cell site in the mountain barangays of Cebu City on Saturday, January 12. The first one (above) was in Bonbon. Contributed Photo Globe Telecom
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Upland barangay Bonbon residents once found it difficult to get a cellphone signal until three days ago. Now, they enjoy improved network coverage because Globe Telecom started operations of its cell site located in the barangay.
The expansion mode of Globe Telecom does not stop there as they are poised to set up four more cell sites in Cebu City’s mountain barangays. On Saturday, January 12, the company will also inaugurate the Guba cell site.
With this, the residents in other mountain barangays would also be enjoying easier access to Globe Telecom’s network.
According to a company statement, they will be putting up additional cell sites in barangays Guba, Tabunan, Sirao and Babag. By setting up more cell sites, the company aims to address the dead spots in these areas.
“This is part of our vision to provide each and every Filipino access to critical telecommunications services, especially those who live in underserved, sparsely-populated areas, as they need connectivity the most,” said Globe General Counsel Froilan Castelo.
Patrick Gloria, Globe Telecom external affairs head for the Visayas and Mindanao, explained that the company has plans for two cell sites, one each in Barangay Sirao and Babag. On
Gloria said that the five cell sites would provide network coverage to all the mountain barangays.
He explained, however, that there would be areas when mountains would block the signal.
He also clarified it would take about three weeks before the cell site could provide LTE service. Presently, it only offers 2G and 3G service, Gloria added.
“The company’s cell site deployment in uphill Cebu is part of its massive network modernization program geared to fortify the reach, resilience and reliability of Globe network,” Globe said in its statement.
In fact, Globe is investing heavily to modernize and upgrade its network by spending about 32 percent of its topline revenues each year.
Globe said this meant that the company has one of the highest reinvestment ratios among telcos in the world.
As of end-September 2018, the company has deployed close to 12,000 LTE sites by fully utilizing 700 MHz, 2600 MHz, and other spectrum assets.
This makes its LTE coverage present in about 90% of cities and municipalities across the Philippines. /dbs
