Smart switched on LTE-A at the Smart Jump Center in Mandaluyong City recently, setting the next phase of mobile communication technology beyond 4G LTE standards.
LTE-A, also referred to as ‘5G’ by reports on leading global mobile operators AT&T and T-Mobile, delivers data from between 100 megabits per second (mbps) to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), or ten times faster than 3G services and more than twice as fast as 4G services.
“Even as our 3G and 4G networks continue to be unrivaled, Smart becomes the first operator to leap into the future and put the Philippines at par with the world’s most advanced countries in terms of mobile communications technology,” said Orlando B. Vea, founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart.
Prior to this announcement, Smart have been testing the LTE-A technology in a few major cities of the country.
200Mbps LTE-A test in Davao City during the Kadayawan Festival 2013. August 2013.
LTE-A test in Boracay 2013.
By putting LTE-A live on its network, Smart joins only a handful of carriers around the world with an LTE-A network, along with leading mobile operators in South Korea, United States, Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong.
In the real world, here is how your Internet speed compared: Source – http://www.digitaltrends.com/
With LTE-A, a 10MB file takes less than a second to download, YouTube videos no longer have to buffer, and video calls are almost lag-free. But beyond speed, LTE-A’s main feature is also its capability to allocate more network resources to users when the need arises.
Smart’s nationwide coverage is backed by PLDT’s fiber optic cable network with about 90,000 kilometers, or more than four times than competition.
