5G is a hot topic within the telco industry throughout the world and Malaysia was not spared by it as well since our country has also embarked on its own national level 5G program. While our 5G network is expected to be fit for commercial rollout in 2021 or 2022, one of our Southeast Asian neighbours will be rolling out its 5G network to consumers within this year itself though.
Interesting enough, the said country is not Singapore. Instead, it is going to be the Phillippines.
According to a recent announcement by Globe Telecom, its new Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G postpaid plans will be available in selected areas of the country starting from July 2019 onwards. Meant for residential users, the reason the company has decided to use 5G network instead of deploying direct fibre is that the latter involves acquiring various permits from local government units which apparently could take years to be completed.
These plans come with 2TB data quota as standard and are priced according to their respective speed. Specifically, the 20Mbps plan goes for PHP 1899 (about RM 154) per month while the 50Mbps and 100Mbps plans are priced at PHP 2499 (about RM 202) and PHP 2899 (about RM 234) respectively.
Despite not being the first country in the region to offer 5G to consumers as one might have expected, there is still some Singaporean element within Philippines’ 5G rollout though. This is because Globe Telecom is a major joint venture effort between SingTel and local conglomerate, Ayala Corporation.
On another hand, it is also interesting to note that Globe Telecom is utilizing Huawei equipment for its 5G network, even though the Philippines is one of the oldest allies of the United States who has recently put a major ban on the Chinese technology company.
Meanwhile, the commercial rollout of 5G network in the Philippines could certainly serve as a motivation for Malaysia’s own 5G effort. Then again, we believe that it is more beneficial for everyone in the country if we can get the implementation done correctly rather than rushing it out.
(Source: Globe Telecom / Reuters.)
