After securing a grant from the US government for a pilot study on 5G deployment, NOW Telecom Company Inc. is planning to commercially launch its stand-alone 5G mobile and fixed wireless network in the country by 2024.

At the sidelines of the Joint Cybersecurity Working Group Session on 5G Security in Makati City on Tuesday, NOW Telecom chairman and CEO Mel Velasco Velarde said the company secured a P118 million ($2.15 million) grant from the US Trade and Development Agency (USTA) for the pilot feasibility study for the development of 5G mobile and broadband in the Philippines.

“After that, what the US government wanted to know is exactly how much money is needed to deploy 5G nationwide and the national broadband network nationwide,” Velarde said.

Under the study, the company and the USTDA will establish a pilot 5G network in key business districts in Metro Manila to test 5G use cases and to gather data for wide-scale deployment.

“We will know the performance, some metrics that will indicate the experience of certain industries, even households,” Velarde said.

SOURCE: GMA NETWORK