Cirtek takes piece of 5G rollout in US

Philippine Daily Inquirer

By: Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

The Silicon Valley unit of electronics manufacturer Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. has bagged a new deal to supply antenna solutions for the rollout of 5G telecommunication services in America.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Cirtek said its subsidiary Quintel USA, had signed a master purchase agreement with a telecommunications operator that ranked among the top five full-fledged wireless carriers in North America.

Having spent close to half a billion dollars in acquiring new spectrum in auctions alone, the US carrier is set to launch full commercial services on fresh spectrum for 5G services by 2021 and beyond, Cirtek said.

“Quintel is pleased to take part in building and transforming the information technology and connectivity revolution ahead as networks transition to 5G,” the company said.

Among the portfolio being launched is Quintel’s flagship 14-port small cell canister solution specifically to maximize radio channel spectral capacity.

Michael Liu, Quintel president and Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. executive vice president, said Quintel’s 14-port canister would cover all low-band and mid-band spectrum in North America and was “future-proofed” in supporting the spectrum vital for 5G services.

As part of providing pioneering and constantly evolving innovative antenna solutions to the market, Quintel will be launching a new platform of small cell antenna products to complement its growing multi-port base station antenna portfolio.

The portfolio is designed and tailored specifically to next generation network which will be built around existing frequencies as well as overlaying newly assigned 5G spectrum under a “compact, feature-rich form factor with 4G and 3G backwards compatibility.”

The operator signed up by Quintel is projected to spend close to a billion dollars this year alone, up by 27 percent from the previous year.