ABS – CBN | March 1, 2011 | Lenie Lectura
MANILA, Philippines – Telecom companies want the government should provide adequate broadband spectrum and enforce the right policy to protect consumers and their investments so they can deliver uninterrupted, fast and efficient broadband service to consumers.
Phone companies made this call after they appear to have lost in the first round when regulators rejected an earlier proposal to impose a cap on the volume of data a broadband subscriber can use. An open letter sent by consumer groups to President Aquino about their objection to the plan of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), prompted the regulators to change their mind.
Frequencies are essential to a service providers’ operation. The number of frequencies usually determines their capability to operate the desired service.
“We need additional frequencies for us to deliver a more improved broadband service. We have been asking this from the NTC,” Globe Telecom officials said.
The NTC has reallocated 2300 megahertz (MHz) and 2500MHz for broadband wireless. But the NTC said both spectrums have been used up. “We have allocated almost all the frequencies under that range,” said Edgardo Cabarios of the common carrier authorization division (CCAD) of the NTC.
There is also no more available space in the 2100MHz band which is part of the 3G (third-generation) spectrum. Mobile Internet can also run on a 3G platform.
The same goes with 900Mhz and 1800Mhz bandwidths which are intended for GSM (global system for mobile communications) use. Globe said both bandwidths are fragmented thereby reducing future use for mobile broadband, notably 3G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology.
Data provided by telcos to the BusinessMirror show that mobile broadband is heavily dependent of adequate spectrum resources. They are assigned only a limited amount of bandwidth and can accommodate limited traffic.
“Spectrum is a limited resource and considering the exponential growth of broadband usage, all operators face the challenge of how to maximize whatever spectrum assigned to us. For us to continue addressing that growth in broadband, spectrum limitation will be a challenge,” said Smart spokesman Ramon Isberto.
Telcos have been requesting for the reallocation of 700MHz for broadband use since this band provides the optimal combination of range and data capacity. Also, the said bandwidth is a candidate for future 3G LTE and next-generation mobile networks use.
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