Cirtek unit tapped to manufacture 5G-supporting chipsets

Business World

A SUBSIDIARY of electronics manufacturer Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. (Cirtek) has entered into a multi-million project with a Silicon Valley-based technology company to produce chipsets for fiber optic networks.

In a statement Wednesday, Cirtek said its microwave and millimeter wave manufacturing arm, Cirtek Advanced Technologies and Solutions, Inc. (CATSI), has been tapped to manufacture chipsets that would support fifth generation (5G) networks.

The company will start production as early as the fourth quarter, Cirtek Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Gregory Liu said. “CATSI is capitalizing its decades of history and experience in specialized Microwave Integrated Circuit assembly and test know-how capabilities…,” he was quoted in the statement as saying.

Cirtek also said its United States-based subsidiary Quintel USA, Inc. is preparing to deploy new antennas to be used for 5G mobile networks.

Quintel received approval to use a frequency band that was previously reserved for use by the US navy, aircraft and satellite applications. The band may now be used commercially to deploy 5G mobile networks without the need for new licenses.

“Quintel is very excited to participate in the nationwide swap out of existing antennas… This comes at an opportune time when the pandemic has forced millions of companies and employees to work from home…,” Cirtek Vice-Chairman and President Jorge Aguilar said in the statement. “Our new antennas are designed to open up 150 MHz (megahertz) of new information highway spectrum to US networks.”

In a separate disclosure to the stock exchange, Cirtek said its board of directors had approved a plan to raise its authorized capital stock by P880 million to P1.74 billion in preparation for future capital raising activities.

The company will increase its authorized common stock to P1.2 billion with 1.2 billion common shares, from P520 million with 520 million common shares, priced at P1 each.

Its authorized preferred B stock will also be increased to P470 million with 470 preferred B shares, from P270 million with 270 million preferred B shares, priced at P1 each.

Shares in Cirtek at the stock exchange shed 71 centavos or 8.48% to close at P7.66 each on Wednesday. — Denise A. Valdez