en.Wedoany.com Reported - On June 2, the Philippines' VoLTE adoption rate and 3G network retirement process drew industry attention. Relevant reports show that in 2025, VoLTE accounts for 30.9% of mobile connections in the Philippines, significantly lower than the global average of 57.7%. As the Philippines advances the shutdown of its 3G network, operators need to accelerate the migration of users, devices, and voice services to 4G/5G networks.
This data indicates that the upgrade pressure in the Philippines' mobile communications market has shifted from coverage construction to the user migration phase. VoLTE, which essentially carries voice calls over the 4G LTE network, allows users to maintain high-speed data connections during calls and improves call setup speed and high-definition voice experience. For markets phasing out 3G networks, the VoLTE adoption rate directly determines whether users can continue to use voice services stably after the old network is retired. The Philippines' 30.9% adoption rate lags significantly behind neighboring markets: Thailand's VoLTE penetration has reached 65.2%, while Malaysia and Singapore have achieved 96.1% and 94.9%, respectively. This means that before the 3G shutdown, the Philippines still needs to address issues such as user device compatibility, SIM card configuration, plan activation, network policies, rural coverage, and user education. Otherwise, users still relying on traditional circuit-switched voice or older devices may experience a decline in call quality during the network retirement process.
The pace of VoLTE migration also varies among operators. The report shows that DITO Telecommunity leads with a VoLTE penetration rate of 41.9% in 2025, followed by Smart Communications at 31.7% and Globe Telecom at 27.4%.
From a call experience perspective, the network performance of major Philippine operators has shown differentiation. Globe's median VoLTE call setup time is 1.65 seconds, Smart's is 2.30 seconds, and DITO's is 4.59 seconds. Voice routing structures also reveal different technical paths: mobile-to-mobile voice calls on Globe and Smart are almost entirely carried by VoLTE, with proportions reaching 99.85% and 99.94%, respectively; DITO still has a relatively high proportion of voice calls carried via EPS Fallback, with only 11.11% routed directly through VoLTE. These differences affect users' actual experience regarding "whether calls connect quickly, are stable, and remain clear in weak coverage scenarios," and also influence operators' pace in releasing spectrum, reducing legacy network maintenance costs, and improving 4G/5G voice quality during the 3G network retirement process.
The challenge of the 3G network shutdown for Philippine operators extends beyond simply decommissioning old equipment and reallocating spectrum. Legacy feature phones, low-end smartphones, devices without VoLTE enabled, enterprise IoT devices, users in remote areas, and groups heavily reliant on mobile voice services all need to be identified and migrated before the network retirement. Under regulatory requirements, public telecommunications entities must submit technical transition plans, including regional shutdown schedules, decommissioned equipment disposal, public awareness campaigns, and consumer migration support. For a market like the Philippines, with numerous islands and significant disparities in network conditions between urban and rural areas, the 3G network retirement must balance spectrum efficiency and basic communication continuity, particularly avoiding service gaps for rural, disaster emergency, low-income, and elderly user groups.
With the continuous growth of mobile internet and AI application traffic, it has become practically necessary for Philippine operators to release 3G spectrum and enhance 4G/5G capacity. As VoLTE adoption rates increase, operators can reduce reliance on traditional voice networks and allocate more spectrum and investment to high-speed data, 5G coverage, enterprise leased lines, fixed wireless access, and digital services. Subsequent variables will focus on the speed of VoLTE device普及, operator migration subsidies, low-end device compatibility lists, rural coverage quality, and regulatory enforcement progress. If the Philippines can significantly raise its VoLTE adoption rate before the 3G network shutdown, the mobile network upgrade will proceed more smoothly; if migration progress is insufficient, the 3G shutdown may first expose vulnerabilities in voice service continuity and service assurance in weak coverage areas.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
