Bell Telecom plans major investment, eyes foreign partner

Bell Telecommunication Phils., Inc. plans to invest billions of pesos in the next three years when it expands its network coverage to as far as Northern Mindanao, even as the 100-percent Filipino company plans to team up with a strong foreign operator in the near future for an accelerated build-up of its network.

In the next six months, Bell Telecom plans to expand its network to Batangas and Cavite and, after a few months, will move to Cebu, and then to General Santos in North Mindanao, and finally to Pampanga and Olongapo, with particular emphasis on special economic zones.

"Over the next three years, Bell Telecom will continue building similar core networks to have presence in all areas where there is an addressable market that requires these high-end services. The flexibility of the network architecture allows it full scalability and deployment as the market is captured, resulting in lower upfront capital expenditure, thereby reducing risk and allowing us to deploy communications facilities in markets that were previously not considered attractive if one was to deploy a traditional network," Bell Telecom chairman and president Edgardo Puyat-Reyes told The STAR.

He said wireless access technology enables the company to set up connections in a matter of days. For instance, its initial terrestrial network which covers the entire Metro Manila down to Canlubang, Laguna in the south, we put up only within six months when the process normally takes three years.

"Our unique network and nationwide presence will support legislation promoting local development and will be one of the main factors in allowing businesses, whether local or international, to relocate in areas previously deemed non-viable, thereby encouraging a more balanced economic development all over the country," he said.

Already, the company has spent more than $1 billion to set up an initial network that offers voice, international gateway services (IDD), leased lines, satellite services, ISP (Internet) services, as well as managed data services. Its license gives it a national presence and includes every special economic zone in the country as well as all major central business districts.

Reyes said the company already has a switch with a 500,000 telephone line capacity, which is much more than its obligation of 300,000 lines.

Reyes said it took the company two years from the time its license was granted in October 1997 to develop the network design and architecture since they have to take into account the latest technologies that have evolved, like wireless access, which allows the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure anywhere, and the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology, which supports all known services like voice, data, video and multimedia.

"We matched the network architecture with the market structure and demand distribution to reach the widest addressable market in the most cost-effective way," he said. But while the design and engineering of the network, including the finalization of equipment and technologies to be deployed took two years, it took the company only six months to execute and deploy the hardware covering the entire Metro Manila all the way to Canlubang.

It was revealed that while the initial roll-out has been undertaken without a foreign strategic partner, the company plans to team up with a strong foreign operator in the near future for an accelerated build-up of its network. Right now, the company is wholly owned by Filipino groups including the Puyat-Reyeses, the Ortigases, Marambas, Madrigals among others.

Reyes said Bell Telecom’s entry into the market as the ‘nextgen telco’ of the Philippines will finally lay to rest the long-standing complaints about the country’s lack of appropriate telecommunications infrastructure.

He said the company’s geographical presence and network architecture are a perfect match for the telecommunications requirements of both new and existing investors, especially information technology-oriented ones.

Reyes added that its presence in special economic zones allows companies to effectively link production facilities to headquarters and administration locations as well as to distribution chains and shipping agents.

In addition, he noted the communities surrounding these economic zones within a 20-km radius will benefit from high-speed information through the Internet.

The Bell Telecom official said the company’s network provides seamless end-tend communications for both domestic and international supporting voice, data, multimedia and Internet. This is composed of a high-speed ATM core network using state-of-the-art broadband access technologies to provide flexibility, quality of service, reliability and security previously unavailable in the country.

"This would bring the country at part with Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and the US in terms of telecommunications services," he said.

Bell Telecom’s technology partners include: Lucent, Siemens, Alcatel, Newbridge, Airspan, Nera, Hewlett-Packard, and ADC/EHPT.