Globe Telecom, the second largest operator in the Philippines, hit its target of deploying 500 LTE sites this year using the 700MHz band it acquired from San Miguel Corp (SMC) in May.

Most of the sites were installed in metro Manila and other highly-populated areas where the majority of its LTE customers are located, the operator announced in a statement.

Joel Agustin, a Globe SVP, said the company is well on its way to deploying around 4,500 multiband, multi-mode base stations to cover 95 per cent of cities and municipalities in the country within three years. In July it made a commitment to the National Telecommunications Commission to hit the coverage target by the end of 2018, using additional spectrum it obtained in a joint acquisition of SMC’s telecoms assets.

In addition to the 700MHz sites, Globe also activated 900 LTE sites using additional spectrum in the 2.6MHz band. Globe began rolling out LTE sites using the 700MHz band in June following the acquisition, which also included spectrum in the 1.8GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz bands.

In October it allocated an additional $300 million to network capex, bringing its total for 2016 to $1 billion.