Globe Telecom Inc. has partnered with PhilTower Consortium Inc. to put up 500 new cell sites this year in its bid to give its subscribers “better, reliable, and accessible connectivity in the new normal.”
“Our partnership with PhilTower will help us accelerate our cell site expansion. Consequently, this will bring better services to Globe subscribers in more locations in the country,” Vincent Tempongko, Globe VP for Site Acquisition, said.
PhilTower President Devid Gubian said the company will use new technologies to make the towers more environmentally friendly, while ensuring efficiency.
“As a communication solutions enabler and digital infrastructure provider, we help power critical digital network expansion needs through our innovative cell site technologies. We are introducing new and innovative solutions like the Micro Cell Poles that have a low impact and small footprint with capability to load in radios, battery backup within the pole for network densification,” he said.
The towers will be deployed in Metro Manila, Northern Luzon, and Southern Luzon.
”We look forward to working with Globe Telecom in providing 4G and 5G coverage to ensure connectivity to many Filipinos,” said Peter Wong, Country Director of PhilTower.
PhilTower plans to focus on supporting coverage improvements in suburban and rural areas through micro cell poles, while also improving in-building coverage with small cells-based digital shared infrastructure.
Carbon fiber tower
Globe said it is eyeing to equip more of its new cell site builds with carbon fiber tower solutions on rooftops due to the success of its maiden installation in Bolinao, Pangasinan, which is the first build of its kind in the country.
Despite being near the sea, the company said the carbon fiber solution installed in the Bolinao cell site has proven to be durable against rust and damages brought by natural calamities.
“Our initial deployment was a greenfield site in Bolinao, Pangasinan. The solution was installed near the sea to test its anti-corrosive characteristics. Despite being light, we were able to test it against the typhoons that passed the area last year and it was able to withstand them all, it is durable and stress-resistant. Moreover, it also provided the barangay around the area with connectivity during the pandemic and during inclement weather,” said Peter Tan, Globe Senior Vice President for Network Operations.
Aside from providing connectivity in the area, the Bolinao carbon fiber installation has complemented the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint through use of fuel cell, lilon batteries, DC generator sets, solar power, Inverter ACUs and free-cooling systems.
“We are developing solutions for roof top applications. Also in the pipeline is a tower in a box application where we can put up temporary structures to support temporary coverage requirements. Given that these kinds of towers are light and easy to move around, it is also cheaper when it comes to hauling costs and faster to deploy,” said Tan.
Like other solutions, Globe said carbon fiber towers also have their disadvantages and downsides. Foremost is its acquisition cost, which is higher, but its advantages on specific site situation requirements today merits its deployment.
“The cost of carbon tower acquisition is higher than traditional steel structures which mitigate the savings from hauling. However, a request to build a plant locally from the distributor is also in place to support our local requirements. Currently, the product is made in the United States. Aside from import costs, tax duties and time considerations, a local production of carbon fiber materials will enable us to build more and deploy them anytime there is a need in our network rollouts,” said Tan.