Globe to deploy 3G, WiMAX

Globe Telecom of the Philippines announced plans to roll out a further 2,000 sites for 3G mobile and WiMAX services this year, TeleGeography CommsUpdate reported.

The country’s No. 2 operator by subscribers promises faster Internet access speeds. Globe’s chief of business and carrier services, Gil B. Genio, told reporters the company intends to ramp up its 3G and WiMAX networks.

Globe Telecom is concentrating its WiMAX push in urban areas where demand for data transfer is much greater. The 3G network will be used to cover urban and rural areas he added.

Network upgrades will comprise additional antennas on existing towers as the cost of building stand-alone physical structures for 3G or WiMAX would not be cost-effective, he noted. Globe counted 320,000 broadband subscribers as at November 2009, mainly due to the higher take-up of its ‘Tattoo’ mobile broadband service.