Globe to ramp up network expansion program

The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has pledged to ramp up its network expansion and modernization program to cater to soaring demand for mobile data.

The operator revealed that mobile data traffic on its network grew to 370 petabytes during the first three months of 2019.

This represents a 105% increase from the 180 petabytes recorded a year earlier, and a 421% increase from the first three months of 2016.

Data traffic growth is also driving revenue growth, with Globe Telecom reporting consolidated service revenues of the quarter of 36 billion pesos – up 13% year-on-year – and mobile data traffic accounting for 16.5 billion pesos of this total.

“With the explosion of data traffic consumption, building more cell towers and modernizing our network infrastructure will continue to play a fundamental role in delivering superior quality of experience to our customers,” Globe CEO Ernest Cu said.

“This is why we will continue ramping up our network rollout and utilizing next-generation technologies to enhance the way our customers experience mobile data.”

Around 68% of Globe’s total capex budget for the first quarter of 8.8 billion pesos was allocated towards enhancing data-related services. During the quarter the company escalated its cell site deployment and invested in improving its network capacity.