If you’re an active Internet user living in the Philippines, you are most likely to have experienced the terrible Internet connectivity and bad network service across all telco companies. It makes you wonder how Filipinos are among the world’s most connected users when the country has one of the slowest average connection speeds in the region, perhaps the world.
It sucks being in a third-world country with first-world needs. But things may about to change now as a new partnership between Chinese electronics giant Huawei and Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co (PLDT), which is the country’s largest telco, has been made to study a 5G wireless network in the Asian archipelago.
Early in 2017, both companies agreed to conduct joint research and development into fifth-generation broadband wireless technology for the Philippines. If all goes well, the 5G wireless network technology will roll out in the country by 2020.
“They are one of the companies that are leading in the research and development of 5G technology,” says PLDT spokesman Ramon Isberto, referring to Huawei.
It’s not surprising that PLDT has gone to Huawei for this endeavor. The Chinese firm has already been involved in PLDT’s landline and mobile phone services.
Moreover, Huawei is grooming itself to become the world’s largest smartphone maker. It’s now number three, which operates in 170 countries, and plans to penetrate the US and global markets. The company has set its eye on being the top producer of smartphones in the next five years.
The partnership comes amid the shaky relationship between China and Philippines towards the claims over the South China Sea. But Isberto says that controversy over Huawei’s links with the Chinese government was not a concern, stressing that foreign companies only provide technology.
“At the end of the day, we run our networks,” Isberto adds.
Source: The Star
