The Philippines cellular operator Smart Communications, owned by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT), has announced plans to expand its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to all major Philippine cities by the end of this year and expects to cover around 50 percent of the population. It also plans to increase its 3G network coverage, from 71 to 100 percent, and to raise its fiber network footprint, from 78,000 to 90,000 km, reports TeleGeography, quoting Cellular News, which adds that it has 32 billion pesos ($714 million) planned for capital expenditures in 2014.

Rolando G. Pena, head of technology at Smart and PLDT, explains, “We’re expecting tremendous growth in data traffic and hope to sustain the pace of our aggressive LTE rollout to keep up with subscriber demand.”

Smart established its 850-MHz and 2600-MHz band LTE in August 2012 and added 1800-MHz services the following month and has LTE networks in the main cities of Caloocan, Las Pinas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Paranaque, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig and Valenzuela.