After April 2011, Smart officially Launch 4G LTE service in the Philippines

On April 2011, Smart Communications & PILTEL launched the first LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile broadband technology as the first country in Southeast Asian countries and 3rd country in whole Asia next to Japan to introduce such high-end wireless connection mobile technology. Japan launched its first LTE last December 2010 with 2100 MHz.  

LTE (Long Term Evolution) Mobile Technology introduction in Asia

1. Hong Kong – November 2010
2. Japan – December 2010
3. Philippines – April 2011
4. South Korea – June 2011
5. Singapore – December 2011
6. India – April 2012

Official Launching of LTE for the Whole Philippines

Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Asia's famous Telecommunication Company, PLDT has formally announced that it will officially launch  it LTE services to be available in the whole country on August 25, 2012-  the country's first Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile technology.

The announcement comes after a year of LTE test deployments conducted by PLDT's wireless subsidiary in various parts of the country since April 2011.

"Come August 25th, the Philippines joins the growing ranks of countries offering high-speed mobile broadband via LTE. This will be a boon to our customers and help power the country's development," said Smart President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno.

"The Philippines' first and only LTE service is here and it's running on Smart's 'super-charged' mobile network," said Smart chief wireless adviser Orlando B. Vea.

The public can take part in the launch by downloading an e-invite www.smart.com.ph/lte.

Smart said its LTE service is capable of delivering data wirelessly at speeds of up to 42 Mbps. This makes possible downloading large files in minutes instead of hours, streaming high definition videos with no buffering, and playing online games with no lag because of its high speed and low latency.

"LTE provides the cutting edge for our mobile broadband network which is also equipped with HSPA+, HSPA and 3G facilities," said Smart wireless consumer division head Emmanuel Lorenzana. "This combination of wireless broadband technologies enables Smart to provide customers with unmatched mobile broadband services in more parts of the country."

Smart's LTE deployment was made possible by the PLDT Group's ₱67.1-billion network technology refresh program which has replaced the base station equipment in all of Smart's over 9,500 base stations nationwide with 4G-ready facilities.

"This enables us to quickly and easily expand our LTE network depending on market demand," Vea said.

This program has also strengthened the PLDT Group's fiber optic networks and overseas fiber optic cable systems to ensure that high-speed broadband services offered via LTE will be fully supported.

Several LTE sites located in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, and Boracay have already been active months prior to the commercial launch.

To date, Smart LTE has powered several events such as the Sinulog Festival in Cebu and the Kadayawan Festival in Davao as it streamed the festivities online in full high definition.

During "The First Philippine LTE Forum" held last Aug. 13, 2012, various speakers from Smart and its technology partners Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Huawei, and NTT Docomo showcased the many potential uses of LTE.

They cited possible applications of LTE in security and surveillance services, transportation management, health care and education.

Manila Standard Today

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Russia, Philippines ratify UN treaty guaranteeing maritime labor rights

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. UN Photo/Rossana Fraga

21 August 2012 – A comprehensive range of labor standards for the world's 1.2 million merchant sailors, covering decent working conditions and health and safety issues, is now set to go into effect following its final two required ratifications, the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) announced today.

The ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006) by Russia and the Philippines fulfils the minimum requirement that 30 ILO Member States – representing nearly 60 percent of global shipping tonnage – ratify the Convention. This means that in a year's time, seafarers working on the majority of the world's shipping will have their rights ensured by the new Convention.

"This is great news for the world's more than 1.2 million seafarers," ILO Director General Juan Somavia said. "It was a dream of the ILO as early as 1920, and I pay tribute to the international maritime community for having made it reality," he added, noting that the ratification was "a remarkable achievement."

The Convention delineates a seafarers' 'bill of rights' while allowing a sufficient degree of national discretion to deliver those rights with transparency and accountability. The Convention also contains provisions allowing it to keep in step with the needs of the industry, and help secure universal application and enforcement.

Its provisions will help to meet the demand for quality shipping, crucial to the global economy. It will apply to all ships engaged in commercial activities with the exception of fishing vessels and traditional ships (such as dhows and junks). The Convention sets minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship and contains provisions on conditions of employment, hours of work and rest, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, health and medical care and welfare and social security protection.

Along with protecting the rights of seafaring laborers and mariners, the Convention will also facilitate the inspection of ships through what is known as "port State control" which allows port countries to inspect ships flying under different national flags.

"The maritime labor inspection and certification system is a big step forward by the ILO in taking concrete and specific action to address the very serious problems that arise because of international ownership of ships and the inability of some countries to ensure that their ships meet international standards for quality shipping," noted Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the ILO's International Labor Standards Department.

When it comes into effect, the MLC, 2006 will replace 37 existing ILO maritime conventions adopted since 1920.

The Philippines is the world's largest provider of Marine officers and world's leading provider of sea fearers. In the 2010 data, Filipino Seafarers contributed 44% of the total OFW remittance to the Philippines of around $7 Billion US Dollars from the total OFW remittance of $16 Billion Dolars.

UN.org

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Philippines, 6th fastest growing in the world: wealth report

The Philippines is expected to be among the fastest growing economies in the world between 2010 and 2050, according to a study released by Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank.

In the 2012 Wealth Report, the Philippines is forecast to post a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 7.3% during the period, making it the 6th fastest growing economy in the world.

FAST GROWING. The Philippines is projected to be among the fastest growing economies in the world, according to the 2012 Wealth Report. This and the graphics below are taken from the report released by Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank.

The Philippines registered a 7.3% growth in 2010, but slowed down to 3.6% in 2011 as the global economy hit demand for Philippine exports and the government spent less-than-planned on infrastructure projects.

The Philippine government expects the local economy to stay resilient despite the economic challenges of key trading partners in the west. It is targeting a 5% to 6% growth this 2012 -- slower than the 2012 Wealth Report's annual growth forecast.

This 2012 Wealth Report mirrors a study released in January by HSBC, which forecast that the Philippines could become the world's 16th largest economy by 2050.

Eastward-bound

HSBC, the multinational British bank, cited demographics and rising education standards to help the Philippines grow by an average of 7% annually over the next 40 years.

The 2012 Wealth Report, on the other hand, cited the "shifting emphasis to the East."

"The global economy expanded, but the pace of growth was much slower than in 2010. The US economy grew by just 1.8% and GDP in the troubled eurozone rose just 1.6%. In contrast, Asia managed to chalk up economic growth of 7.9%, although even this was down on the 9.5% achieved 12 months earlier," it said.

"The London School of Economics professor Danny Quah forecasts that by 2050 the world's economic centre of gravity, a theoretical measure of the focal point of global economic activity based on GDP, will have shifted eastwards to lie somewhere between China and India," it added. "In 1980 it was in the middle of the Atlantic."

The report cited an indicator: the growing number of deca-millionaires or those with $10m or more in assets.

It estimated that there are 18,000 centa-millionaires in the region covering South-East Asia, China and Japan. This is more than North America, which has 17,000, and Western Europe with 14,000. By 2016, this region is expected to have extended its lead, with Ledbury Research estimating 26,000 centa-millionaires, compared with 21,000 in North America and 15,000 in Western Europe.

"These forecasts are influenced by the expected economic performance of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. While rapid GDP growth does not in itself guarantee a sharp rise in HNWIs (high-networth individuals), rapidly growing economies do provide key opportunities for large-scale wealth creation," the report said.

High-networth individuals

Citi Private Bank, a wealth management unit of the multinational financial institution, included the Philippines and the other countries in its list of Global Growth Generators - or "3G" countries that over the next 5, 10, 20 and 40 years are expected to deliver high growth and profitable investment opportunities.

Citi included "Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam on this ['3G'] list."

Not included were Russia and Brazil -- two of the so-called BRIC nations alongside China and India -- since it said "there are other key countries with promising chances for growth that do not necessarily match the traditional assumptions about where future growth will emanate from."

"All of these countries are poor today and have decades of catch-up growth to look forward to. Some of them, including Nigeria, Mongolia, Iraq and Indonesia, also have large natural resources that we hope will be more beneficial than they so often have been in the past," the report said.

Aside from the Philippines, the other two Southeast Asian countries included in the top 10 fastest growing economies between 2010 and 2050 are Vietnam, which ranks 5th and expected to grow by 7.5%, and Indonesia, ranked 8th with average growth of 6.8% between 2010 and 2050.

Citi projected that China will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy by 2020, which in turn will be overtaken by India in 2050.

Nationality to watch

While Filipinos may not be as important now or in the near future, it is most certainly among the nationalities that should be watched in terms of luxury products and services, including second homes.

The Wealth Report said Filipinos, along with Egyptians, Mongolians, Nigerians, and Vietnamese, are among the nationalities that could be important second home buyers in the future.

The top second home buyers right now are from Russia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, France, US, Sweden, Germany, China, Singapore, and Canada.

But the nationalities that are growing in importance as primary second home buyers are the Chinese, Indian, Brazilian Malaysian, Norwegian, Kazakhstani, Australian, Indonesian, Turkish, and middle eastern, particularly those from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The 2012 Wealth Report pulled together wealth creation, economic risk and politics in the performance of prime residential and commercial property markets, as well as other luxury products.

Citi Private Bank provides products and services to high-net-worth individuals or those who have over US$25 million of investable assets

Rappler.com 

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