Ericsson is celebrating 30 years of operations in the Philippines. Alongside the anniversary celebrations, the company showcased the first live demonstration of 5G technology in the country and announced a Memorandum of Understanding with PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications to start deploying a 5G pilot network in 2019.

Ericsson has marked 30 years of operations in the Philippines by presenting a demonstration of 5G technology using its 5G trial system and demonstrated data speeds of 20 Gbps, a first for the Philippines. The achievement was part of a two-day technology showcase titled ‘‘Unleashing the Next Wave - Ericsson Philippines 30th Anniversary” and included 5G use cases in Network Function Virtualization (NFV), 3D Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality Mining and examples of insight-driven automated operations.

The event reinforces Ericsson’s commitment to bring the latest technology innovations to the country and developing the 5G ecosystem to support a Digital Philippines.

Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India at Ericsson, says: “Ericsson has been a key part of the telecom ecosystem in the Philippines for thirty years, bringing voice and data services to millions of customers in the country. We are the first to market with solutions that enable today's networks to evolve smoothly to the next-generation of technologies. 4G is the foundation of 5G, and Ericsson is well poised to help the operators in the Philippines to transition seamlessly from 4G to 5G.”

The 30th anniversary celebrations were followed by Ericsson’s announcement of a new agreement with PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart). Smart and Ericsson have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bring 5G technology to the Philippines. The 5G pilot network, scheduled to go live by early 2019, will be deployed in Luzon, the largest and most populated island in the Philippines. The MoU will allow Smart to explore industry partnership engagements, collaborate with tertiary institutions such as the academia, and further develop competence in 5G.

Chairman, President and CEO for PLDT and Smart Communications Manuel V. Pangilinan says: “We are committed to help bring to the Philippines the latest technologies that will advance the digital transformation of the country. In line with this, we have partnered with Ericsson to conduct a pilot deployment of 5G in Luzon. This will open the door to a new wave of innovative services and solutions that will profoundly change the way our people live and how businesses, government and communities in the country conduct their affairs.”

The future of a Digital Philippines is bright. The country has an estimated USD 1.8 billion revenue opportunity in 2026 for telecom operators addressing industry digitalization with 5G technology. The forecast is part of Ericsson’s 5G Business Potential report , which found that operators can add a revenue of up to USD 619 billion (36 percent) to their forecast service revenues of USD 1.7 trillion in 2026. They can do this by targeting the digital transformation of other industries, such as automotive and manufacturing, using 5G-IoT technology.