Smart fires up ‘5G’ LTE-A network

Well, that didn’t take long. Two years after firing up its 4G LTE network,Smart Communications announced that it switched on LTE-Advanced, also referred to as 5G, at the Smart Jump Center in Mandaluyong City.

Theoretically, that means you get to download a 10MB file for less than a second. You see, LTE-A is supposed to deliver data from between 100mbps to 1Gbps. That’s 10 times faster than 3G services and more than twice as fast as 4G services.

According to Smart, LTE-A’s main feature beyond speed is its capability to allocate more network resources to users when the need arises.

The telco began testing LTE-A across the Philippines in August 2013. By powering it up this month, Smart now joins about 13 other operators with an LTE-Advanced network.

As far as we know, the company doesn’t offer LTE-A-compatible devices yet. Then again, we agree with someone who pointed out that that has always been a chicken-and-egg issue. Which one will come first: the device or the network?

The more important thing is Smart has already laid the groundwork for LTE-A. The issue here is really about the telco delivering what a 5G network is supposed to deliver. Guess we’ll find out soon.