Globe to raise capex

Globe Telecom Inc. may increase its capital expenditures by around $10 million for the year as it implements projects to provide customers a better internet experience.

The Ayala-led telco also announced the completion of the third network upgrade to the Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC) system which is intended to help meet growing bandwidth requirements in countries including the Philippines.

Globe chief commercial officer Albert de Larrazabal told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the firm’s first online film festival, the telco may hike the capex in the last two quarters of the year.

“It could be $ 10 million more… or less. But it’s generally around that number,” he said.

Should Globe’s capex rise for this year, he said the telco would be able to fund it.

Globe earlier announced it has allocated $750 million worth of capital expenditures to boost capacity and network coverage for this year.

Last May 30, Globe gained access to new frequencies including the 700 Megahertz ( MHz) band, following a joint purchase with PLDT Inc. of the telco assets of San Miguel Corp.

Globe is aiming to activate more than 500 LTE ( Long Term Evolution) cell sites powered by the 700 MHz frequency which provides better indoor penetrability and greater coverage within the year.

Aside from the 700 MHz band, Globe is also committed to use the additional allocation in the 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz frequencies under the three-year rollout plan submitted to the National Telecommunications Commission as one of the conditions in approving the co-use agreement for the spectrum resources it gained access to.

As part of the threeyear plan, Globe wants to be able to provide mobile services including voice, text messaging and data, to 95 percent of the country’s municipalities and cities by the end of 2018.

Globe has also launched an initiative which involves deployment of fiber optic cables in 20,000 barangays all over the country to provide faster and more reliable internet access in about two million homes nationwide by 2020.

In a related development, Globe said the third network upgrade to the SJC system which connects Brunei, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines, has been completed.

Through the upgrade, the system’s capacity has been increased by using undersea communications technology firm TE SubCom’s latest 100 Gb/s coherent transmission technology to meet the growing capacity needs for businesses and communications across the Asia-Pacific region.

“TE SubCom strives to bring value to its customers by delivering state-of-theart systems on schedule and at the highest standard of reliability,” Debbie Brask, managing director for project management and marketing communications at TE SubCom said.

Globe along with Brunei International Gateway Sendirian Berhad, China Mobile International Ltd., China Telecommunications Corp., China Telecom Global Ltd., Donghwa Telecom Co. Ltd., Google, KDDI Corp., Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International, and TOT Public Co. Ltd. are part of the SJC consortium.