MANILA – Globe Telecom said it partnered with China's Huawei to bring 5G technology to the Philippines and speed up internet connectivity.

The company hopes to more than double average broadband speeds to 50 mbps by 2020 from 17.62 mbps in April 2018, Globe chief technology officer Gil Genio said late Wednesday.

Globe rival PLDT Inc announced a similar deal with Huawei in February. The Shenzhen-based company manufactures telecommunications infrastructure aside from smartphones.

• PLDT, China's Huawei join forces in 5G deal

• Blazing fast internet remains a dream in Philippines

Globe telecom to unveil plans to speed up internet in the country pic.twitter.com/DP9gu55UHs

— Vivienne Gulla (@VivienneGulla) June 6, 2018

The Philippines ranked 85th out of 88 territories based on LTE speed and 75th in terms of LTE availability, according to a report by London-based wireless coverage mapping firm OpenSignal last February.

A separate study by industry monitor Speedtest showed that average download speeds in the Philippines for mobile picked up to 11.95 mbps in September 2017 from 10.47 Mbps three months prior.

This improved the country's world ranking to 94th from 99th, Speedtest said.

The government hopes to name this year a third telecommunications firm to challenge the dominance of Globe and PLDT Inc.

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