The current total is more than double the 200 TD-LTE sites that had been installed as of April this year in such provinces as Cagayan in Northern Luzon and Davao del Sur in Mindanao.

The additional TD-LTE cell sites will further expand the reach of the PLDT service in existing sites, such as Cebu, and cover new areas like the province of Bohol and the tourist center of Boracay, Aklan. The expansion also covers other provinces in central and southern Luzon and Mindanao.

These facilities enable PLDT to deliver its HOME Bro Ultera service that provides speed of up to 10 megabits per second (Mbps) for its customers.

“We are continuously expanding our TD-LTE network to further strengthen connections at home, especially for those in the remote towns and provinces of our country, by providing access to the internet and allowing them to experience the benefits of broadband connectivity,” said PLDT EVP and Head of Home Business Ariel Fermin.

"This complements our efforts to broadband the entire Philippines via fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and Next Generation Network (NGN) services," PLDT Group Technology Head Rolando Peña said.

TD-LTE is one of the two wireless data transmission technologies that fall under the international standard of LTE, the other being Frequency-Division Duplex (LTE FDD) which is used by mobile networks. LTE is also known as a 4G technology.

As of end-September, Smart deployed around 1,400 FDD LTE cell sites in various parts of the country.  This brings the combined number of LTE cell sites for both fixed and mobile applications to over 1,800.

Each LTE cell site has three “sectors” or base stations, bringing the PLDT Group's total number of LTE base stations to around 5,500 which is far ahead of competition.

"PLDT HOME Bro Ultera service in a way revolutionizes the country’s internet service as it enables more Filipino homes to gain ready access to multimedia services like social media, movies, games, and music,” Fermin noted. 

"We are bringing all these digital services within reach of more Filipino homes across the country with our various plan options," he said, adding that more information can be found in the website pldthome.com.

Peña said that, “Utilizing the ultra-fast TD-LTE technology, PLDT HOME Bro Ultera can offer maximum speeds per individual user of up to 42 Mbps which is almost six times faster than WiMax and 21 times more than Canopy.”

“It can serve more customers and provide a better internet experience than either Wimax or Canopy or even both could,” Peña added.

According to industry data, the Philippines’ TD-LTE network is one of the largest deployments in Asia Pacific with now over 400 base stations and an allocated bandwidth of 100 megabits per second (Mbps).

The PLDT Group is continuing to roll out its extensive fiber optic network, which now reaches more than 90,000 kilometers.  Part of its P32 billion capital expenditures for the year, the expansion of its fiber network has enabled the Group to reach more areas of the country with broadband services using both fixed and mobile technologies.