Express Telecommunication Company, Inc. (commonly known as Express Telecom or Extelcom) is a subsidiary of Vega Telecom. It was the Philippines' first mobile phone network operator and operated an analog AMPS network.
History
Established in December 1988, Extelcom was granted a provisional authority to install, operate and maintain a Cellular Mobile Telephone System (CMTS) in Metro Manila by the National Telecommunications Commission.[1] In May 1989, limited operations commenced with the installation of Extelcom's first switch in Antipolo and three cell sites in Metro Manila. The company initially offered cellular technology with service features including call forwarding, call waiting, and three-way conferencing. It was assigned the area codes 973 and 974 (presently not in use). In October 1992, Extelcom was granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) by the NTC. Extelcom is the only CMTS operator in the Philippines with a CPCN. Extelcom introduced the first cellular prepaid card in the country, "Cellcard".
It has 10 MHz on the 800 bandwidth for its analog network. The NTC in September 2001 gave Extelcom 5 MHz frequency in the 1800 bandwidth for its planned GSM operations. It dropped its GSM plans in 2003 in favor of deploying a network based on the CDMA protocol.