Operators in the Philippines and Myanmar focus on aggressive 4G roll-outs

Over the past few years, the Southeast Asian region has witnessed the transition from 3G to 4G services. While all major countries in the region have been focusing on accelerating the roll-out of 4G services, the Philippines and Myanmar in particular are among the front runners in the 4G space.  There has been accelerated migration to 4G in the two countries, which is being driven by ongoing network investment by operators, increased competition, reduced device prices and growing consumer appetite for high speed mobile data services. Southeast Asia Infrastructure takes stock of the current state of 4G penetration in the Philippines and Myanmar and future plans of operators in the 4G space…

Philippines

LTE coverage: The Philippines witnessed the roll-out of LTE services in August 2011, when Smart Communications launched its 4G services. Since then, Smart has rolled out its LTE services in Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Boracay and Rizal province. Further, the roll-out of 4G services in Metro Manila is currently underway. Recently, Smart Communications started a three-month project to boost its 4G coverage. Under the project, 2,500 new cell sites using 700 MHz, 850 MHz and 900 MHz frequency bands are to be deployed across Metro Manila to provide higher indoor coverage. In addition, the capacity of the 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands is also being increased.

Another operator having wide-ranging 4G coverage in the country is Globe Telecom, which launched its 4G services in September 2012. Globe Telecom has so far rolled out around 5,000 LTE cell sites across the country, using the 700 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands. Further, the operator has set a target of adding at least 600 more sites by end-2017. During 2016, the operator deployed over 500 LTE sites using the 700 MHz band, most of which were in Metro Manila and other highly populated areas. Further, it also activated about 1,200 LTE sites using spectrum in the 2600 MHz band, which mostly benefited customers in the Metro Cebu and Metro Davao regions. Recently, Globe activated a number of 4G sites using the 700 MHz spectrum band in Davao City and 500 new cell sites in the Visayas and Mindanao regions using the 2600 MHz spectrum band. In May 2017, Globe launched the massive multiple-input, multiple-output technology in Boracay. Further, the operator extended its LTE coverage to the Visayas and Mindanao regions and installed around 3,000 4G sites in the two regions in August 2017.

LTE-A coverage: Along with LTE, LTE-A technology has also been introduced in the country. In April 2016, Smart Communications started deployment of the triple-carrier aggregation LTE-A technology, a first in the Philippines. Initially deployed in Boracay, Smart’s LTE-A service delivers peak speeds of more than 100 Mbps to users with LTE-A-capable smartphones. Since then, Smart has been deploying its LTE and LTE-A network in the Metro Manila, Rizal, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao regions.

Future plans: In addition to focusing on current 4G roll-outs, operators in Philippines are also focusing on devising plans for extending 4G coverage in the future. As a part of its 4G expansion plan, Smart Communications had submitted a three-year commitment to the National Telecommunications Commission. Under the plan, Smart aims to cover 95 per cent of the country’s cities and municipalities with LTE technology by 2018. To this end, the operator has already installed 500 LTE sites using the 700 MHz band in 2016. In 2017, Smart aims to roll-out 2,165 LTE sites in low spectrum bands and 3,568 sites in high spectrum bands. Further, all 1,551 cities and municipalities in the country are expected to be covered by LTE services by 2018.

Globe Telecom has also announced its plans to spend $850 million during 2017 to accelerate the expansion of its mobile data networks. The amount will be spent in deploying 1,800 new LTE sites using the 700 MHz band in 2017. In addition, Globe will continue rolling out 4G using the 2600 MHz band, thereby extending its coverage to 1,000 new sites.

Myanmar

LTE coverage: 4G services were introduced in Myanmar in May 2016, when Ooredoo Myanmar launched the country’s first commercial LTE service in selected parts of Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon and Mandalay. By August 2016, the operator had signed up more than 500,000 users for its 4G services. Following Ooredoo, Telenor Myanmar started testing 4G services in June 2016 in the Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Myawady and Muse regions and finally launched the services in the Nay Pyi Taw region in July 2016. State-run telecom operator Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) was a relatively late entrant in this space and soft-launched 4G LTE services in the Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw regions in October 2016. In February 2017, Telenor Myanmar expanded its LTE network to six new cities, namely, Taungdwingyi, Aunglan and Pakokku in the Magway region; Monywa in the Sagaing region; and Lewe and Pyinmana in the Nay Pyi Taw union territory. Owing to this, the operator’s 4G network is now available in 17 cities.

However, the coverage of 4G services by the three operators was initially limited to only a few regions, primarily due to spectrum constraints. This is because the operators could only launch services using either the 900 MHz or the 2100 MHz frequency band available with them. Therefore, to help operators expand their commercial 4G coverage, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) issued licences for using frequencies in the 1800 MHz band to the three existing operators in May 2017. As per MCIT, the operators were issued a 12-year licence for 2×10 MHz frequencies in the 1800 MHz band at a price of $80 million, using the direct allocation method. Further, a 2×10 MHz block was also reserved for newcomer Myanmar National Tele and Communications (MNTC).

After the allocation of frequencies, operators started aggressive 4G roll-outs across the country. In May 2017, MPT commercially launched LTE services in the Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon and Mandalay regions, using the frequencies it received in the 1800 MHz band. Further, Ooredoo Myanmar also rolled out its LTE network using the 1800 MHz band in June 2017. According to the operator, its 4G network covered 52 townships across five cities, namely, Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Bagan and Magwe.

LTE-A coverage: State-run operator MPT was the first operator to launch its LTE-A mobile network in the country. The operator launched LTE-A services in June 2017, just one month after the commercial launch of its LTE network. The services were launched in 47 townships of Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay. Further, in July 2017, MPT extended its LTE-A services to 16 cities across 10 states.

Future plans: In the future, the new entrant MNTC has announced its plans to invest $1.5 billion to roll-out a 4G-only network during the first quarter of 2018. Further, telecom solutions provider Global Technology Company (GlobalNet) has announced its plans to launch LTE-based wireless broadband services in 30 cities during April 2018. According to GlobalNet, the services will  be targeted at major cities across Nay Pyi Taw, Magway, Bago, Mon, Jayin and Tanintharyi and will be made available to both business and residential subscribers.