Globe readies network for emerging IoT services with 700 MHz band

Globe Telecom is enabling its network to support emerging Internet of Things (IoT) services, making full use of all the 700-megahertz spectrum and other existing LTE spectrum assets the company is currently assigned with. Globe is now piloting Narrow Band- Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology due to its inherent advantage of long reach and range, while enhancing mobile data services.

NB-IoT is one of the three 3GPP standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology developed to enable a wide range of new IoT devices and services. NB-IoT as a standard is more developed compared to other defined 3GPP standards and the device ecosystem is evolving at a much faster pace.

Out of the 3 standards endorsed by 3GPP, Globe has enabled NB-IoT as this technology will have far reaching benefits for many people, industries, even communities and early adopters would be able to enjoy its benefits. Huawei and Nokia, Globe existing technology partners, are collaborating in this journey, ensuring network readiness to support new services.

“Given new business requirements in a highly digital environment, Globe is gearing up to deploy emerging IoT services relevant to various enterprises including the public sector. This is all part of our commitment to enable enterprises take advantage of the latest technological innovations, which is vital in driving economic competitiveness and growth in the country,” Globe Telecom President & CEO Ernest Cu said.

The Philippines is a good use case for a number of emerging IoT services that include parking sensors, water meter reading, lighting control, garbage collection and flood control, among others.

“Fundamentally, IoT is about creating a digital ecosystem for services that are being used by various organizations. The use of IoT-related services is growing significantly around the world and it is time that we adopt them in the Philippines so that local enterprises can take advantage of the business benefits derived from these new technologies,” Cu stressed.

Globe has also been aggressively deploying LTE sites nationwide. Globe has deployed to date around 1,750 LTE sites across the country using the 700 MHz band. More than

700 cell sites are located in Metro Manila, providing pervasive LTE mobile connectivity to its customers.

Globe has also deployed Massive MIMO (MM) as part of its technology roadmap. MM is the fundamental radio access technology for 5G. The 5G network targets to have higher speeds, lower latency and better capacity, enabling higher density of mobile broadband users and supports device-to-device connectivity and massive machine communications.