Telecom industry to remain competitive - MVP

MANILA, Philippines - The telecommunications industry is expected to remain very competitive, more so that competition will come not only from existing and new telcos but also from services offered by  “over the top” players of the Internet world, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) group chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

During the company’s stockholders’ meeting, he noted that players like Facebook, Google and Apple directly compete with PLDT’s traditional services.

“The radical changes that digital technologies are bringing to the telecoms industry will become more pervasive and profound in the next few years,” Pangilinan said.

He emphasized that these forces are changing the face of communications — from keypads and keyboards to touch screens of various sizes. “Increasingly, people are communicating with each other through smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart TVs. From voice and text, connections whether wired or wireless are becoming broadband and multimedia. In five years, the market will, in growing numbers, be populated by ‘digital natives’ — young people who have grown up with mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,” he added.

Pangilinan revealed that the PLDT of the emerging digital future will be one of many touchscreens, and will offer and support a wide range of services beyond basic communications.

“We will help people enjoy entertainment, use financial services, manage their energy needs at home and office, take care of their health,” he said.

Pangilinan also revealed that since having being acquired by the PLDT group, Sun Cellular has been improving its coverage, starting with Mindanao where it has strengthened its signal in Lanao del Norte and Sur, Basilan, Camiguin, Tawi-tawi, Sulu, Bukidnon, Compostela Valley, and Davao del Sur. This was followed by Luzon in areas like Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga Apayao and Mountain Province, Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Vizcaya, Aurora, and Quirino, and in the Visayan islands of Panay and Bohol.

In maximizing the synergies among PLDT, Smart, Digitel and Sun, Pangilinan noted that they have rationalized the group’s network rollout by minimizing duplication which has resulted in reducing capital expenditure by P8 billion

He revealed that by the end of this month, they will have completed the installation in every cellsite of Smart all over the country a new generation of base station equipment. This will allow the group to quickly upgrade to the latest mobile phone technologies such as HSPA+ and LTE, as and when their plans and market demand requires.

Within this year, he said that they will have upgraded their transport network with over 54,000 km of fiber optic cable assets that will allow the group to carry up to 10 times more data to handle the rapidly growing traffic in voice, SMS and data traffic. In addition, PLDT will be installing its third and fourth cable landing station to enhance international cable links. The company will also finish the upgrade of its core networks and backroom facilities for both fixed and mobile by yearend

All this, he stressed, will require an investment of about P38 billion this year, bringing  the total bill for PLDT’s modernization program to about P67 billion.

Pangilinan warned however that this will take a little time to bear fruit. “That is why I refer to 2012 as the year of alignment and why we have tempered our expectations for this period. Our guidance for core income in 2012 remains at P37 billion which is lower than those of previous years. Moving forward, we expect to get PLDT back on the growth path in 2013 and then return to previous levels of  core income in the coming years,” he added.