PLDT Chairman and CEO Manny V. Pangilinan used a Huawei 5G smartphone to test the Smart 5G Network in Makati.
Using the Speedtest by Ookla app, he measured mobile internet speeds of more than 460 Megabits per second! For comparison, I usually get around 20 Mbps using a 4G phone in the same area. By the way, 460 Mbps is equivalent to 57.5 Megabytes per second.
5G is the next generation of cellular networks that offer faster internet speeds, better coverage, and lower latency compared to 4G LTE.
The smartphone used by Pangilinan is likely the 5G version of the Huawei Mate 20 X. There was a slight confusion though since his first tweet about the test was done via an iPhone. He later uploaded a video showing a Huawei phone running the speed test.
Sadly, no 5G smartphone is available for purchase here in the Philippines as of today. Although, we might see one or two later this year.
Smart already has live 5G networks in select areas in Makati and Clark. Roll-out of the telco’s 5G and 4G LTE-Advanced infrastructures are on-going.
Meanwhile, rival telco Globe is poised to launch its own 5G network next month, June 2019.
