By Emmie V. Abadilla

Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Ericsson have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deploy the country’s first 5G pilot network by the first half of 2019.

Under the MoU, the 5G network will be first deployed in Luzon, the country’s largest and most populous island where about a third of the population work and live.

The 5G pilot deployment will allow Smart to explore industry partnership engagements, collaborate with schools and universities, and further develop competence in 5G.

“As 5G opens up more opportunities for new services and solutions to offer to our customers, we are investing in future-proofing our network and making sure that our network is ready for 5G,” noted PLDT-Smart chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

“Our partnership with Ericsson is part of our commitment to bring to the country the latest technologies to improve the experience of our customers, as well as boost the digital transformation of enterprises and industries,” he added.

“We are happy to partner with Smart to pioneer 5G in the Philippines. We believe first movers in 5G can reshape the market, grow market share and increase revenue streams,” according to Martin Wiktorin, Head of Ericsson Singapore, Brunei, Philippines and Pacific Islands.

With its capability to deliver extremely high speeds coupled with low latency, 5G opens up exciting possibilities for Internet of Things (IoT) applications for Filipinos, particularly in healthcare and smart cities.

Smart has been testing 5G since 2016, when it achieved with technology partner Nokia 5G speeds of 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) using 100 MHz with latency of just 1 millisecond over a “live” network — the first in the Philippines.