MANILA - Professional esports athletes will soon experience "fast" Internet speeds, telco giant Smart said, as it rolled out plans for 5G technology in mobile gaming facilities in the future.
In a press release Thursday, Smart confirmed the development as it rolled out an exhibition match between two Mobile Legends: Bang Bang teams playing in franchise tournament "The Nationals."
"The athletes would surely love the lower latency which would allow them to maximize their response times and teams will benefit from other use cases like instant download of replays and access of VODs for their reviews and strategy phases," Darren Vitug, the tournament's commissioner said in the release.
5G's connection speeds could run up to 1GB per second, resulting in lower response time as the device connects and sends data- a feat some believe could speed up gaming response.
"We have always been a staunch supporter of this growing industry, and part of this commitment is making the best of our technologies available for the advancement of esports in the country," PLDT Chief Revenue Officer and Smart President and CEO Alfredo Panlilio said.
Smart said its current 5G network is ideal for "real-time AR/VR and game applications."
As Filipino telcos raced to be the first to market 5G locally, the connection was tested out in New Clark City, as they sought to showcase technologies which could be used by spectators over the course of the tournament.