PLDT offers broadband services using fiber optic

MANILA, Philippines - Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has started offering its latest technological breakthrough in broadband service using fiber optic cables as part of its P67-billion network upgrade and modernization program.

PLDT executive vice president and head of home business Ariel Fermin said the latest technological breakthrough in broadband service delivers the fastest Internet speed of up to 100Mbps at home.

“Its rapid-fire, ultrafast speed enables users to have a faster, far-richer multi-screen, multi-media experience,” he stressed.

PLDT Fibr is the first in the country to use fiber optic cables to deliver broadband service to the home and is now initially available in areas such as Ayala Alabang Village and Forbes Park.

The service is also available in East, West, North, and Northeast Greenhills, Acropolis, Greenmeadows, La Vista, and Valle Verde in Quezon City; Alabang Hills, Alabang 400, and Hillsborough in Alabang, Muntinlupa; and Dasmarinas Village, San Lorenzo Village, and Urdaneta Village in Makati.

“Unlike cable Internet which shares broadband connection among neighbors, PLDT Fibr’s broadband service provides for a dedicated broadband connection in the access network utilizing fiber optics which facilitates simultaneous high-speed browsing and downloading,” Fermin explained.

He explained that PLDT Fibr may be connected to a desktop, laptop, or game console, or an Internet-enabled smart TV and may be used with a wireless router or access point.

“Family members will enjoy sharing content with each other even more with these amazing speed rates from Fibr. It does fit in nicely to our cause of providing the strongest connections at home,” he added.

He explained that all PLDT Fibr plans are equipped with an Optical Network Unit (ONU) modem, which has a fiber optic cable connection that delivers its enviable ultra-high speed feature.

PLDT Fibr is accessible in any of the following plans: PLDT Fibr Plan 3500, up to 8Mbps; Plan 5500, up to 15 Mbps; and Plan 20000, up to 100Mbps. These plans include free installation, free Fibr modem, and free PLDT WiFi Zone access with PLDT Telpad subscription.

Earlier, PLDT tapped US-based network specialist Ciena Corp. to undertake a P1.3 billion project that would increase the capacity and flexibility of the utility firm’s vast and extensive network in the country.

The project would increase the capacity and service flexibility of PLDT’s domestic fiber optic network (DFON) through the deployment of Ciena’s coherent 100 gigabites (100G) per second technology and optical transport network (OTN) switching solutions.

As the first 100G network in the Philippines, he pointed out that this would put the country at par with that of Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea.

The upgrade covering PLDT’s 50,000 kilometers of fiber optic nationwide would complete PLDT’s core network modernization program and support the delivery of next-generation services to customers such as fiber-to-the-home, fiber-to-the-building, LTE/4G, IPTV, and triple pay services.