By Emmie V. Abadilla

PLDT, Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) recently fired up the country’s first 5G cell sites in the Makati Central Business District and in Clark Freeport Zone (CFZ), Pampanga.

PLDT and Smart on-aired the first 5G cell site at the PLDT headquarters in Makati City with technology partner Huawei, along with its first 5G cell site at the Clark Smart 5G City in the CFZ with technology partner Ericsson.

The 5G cell sites are 3GPP standard compliant and are the first to be activated in the Philippines.

“This puts us alongside the first tier operators in the world to have deployed live 5G base stations. It’s part of our commitment to bring the most advanced technologies to the country,” announced PLDT and Smart chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

By firing up a 5G cell site in a central business district, PLDT and Smart are looking to pilot 5G solutions for densely populated areas.

“With 5G resources now in place, we are looking at developing 5G solutions and applications for central business district areas like Makati, which host a dense population of businesses, people and advanced devices,” confirmed Ernesto R. Alberto, PLDT and Smart Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer.

The move is also in line with PLDT and Smart’s recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Clark Development Corp. to transform the CFZ into the country’s first Smart 5G City.

“With 5G cell sites now live and on-air, we are now set to test 5G’s powerful platform to develop solutions such as autonomous vehicles, connected fleets and smart buildings and factories, and be able to deliver 5G services to our customers soon,” noted Joachim Horn, PLDT-Smart chief technology and information advisor.

Smart is continuously upgrading its network’s Core and Transport elements, including upgrading to fiber the backhaul connecting the network’s cell sites and deploying 5G-ready equipment in its ongoing nationwide LTE roll-out, according to Mario G. Tamayo, PLDT-Smart Senior Vice President for Network Planning and Engineering,