Just how important is LTE?

One question in consumers minds these days is how important is LTE? The answer depends on what network you are on. If you are on Sun, LTE technology will be irrelevant to you for the foreseeable future. On Globe, LTE is now available in some areas in Makati City and I don't expect it to have significantly wider coverage until Q2 2013, and that is a bit of speculation on part. Globe is about 70% done with its US$700,000,000 network upgrade, but this upgrade is mainly a HSPA+ network upgrade, with an LTE scalable infrastructure. LTE "scalable", meaning a wide LTE roll-out is something to be covered in a future upgrade rather than right now. Whether Globe decides to widely roll out LTE is something that remains to be seen.

On the Smart network, it is a different story. The images below show Smart LTE covered areas. You decide if LTE technology is worth it on the Smart network (click on images for a larger image).

If you ask me, LTE is relevant on the Smart network today.

For more details on Smart LTE, click this link (link to Smart Communications).