PLDT launches digital servicing brand for resideny tial users

MANILA, Philippines - Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has launched its digital servicing brand called HOME to connect all electronic devices such as smart TVs, smart phones, computers, and tablets for residential subscribers.

PLDT executive vice president and head of HOME Business Ariel Fermin said the new product using the powerful fiber optic broadband that runs at up to 100 Mbps to connect all electronic devices would boost the company’s retail offerings.

“Digital technology has indeed changed the Filipino family’s lifestyle, making constant connectivity an important part of their lives. The basic components of a connected home, which include computers and tablets, are now being adopted by more and more families in the Philippines,” Fermin stressed.

He explained that the various devices satisfy shared and overlapping needs of individual members of the family both inside and outside the home.

For instance, the smart TV is the center of information and entertainment for the whole family, the laptop or desktop is a major information, communication, and entertainment device, the landline is a major device for voice communication, the tablet is a digital entertainment hub, and the smart phone, an indispensable personal gadget.

“These devices can actually be networked or interconnected through PLDT HOME, enabling families to experience the new way of communication and entertainment using premium broadband,” Fermin said.

According to him, the new HOME logo is inspired by the overlapping of four screens – the laptop, Internet TV, smart phone, and Telpad – showing how HOME interconnects all the devices of the family with one powerful broadband.

 “With digital services such as myDSL, Telpad, and Fibr, all running on PLDT’s extensive 54,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables, HOME’s cutting edge technology will definitely bring families closer together and establish the strongest connections at home,” he explained.

According to a 2011 Yahoo-Nielsen Net Index, generally all market segments have multiple Internet users at home more than 80 percent of the time.

The study also revealed that home internet users tend to access more frequently compared to their i-café and mobile counterparts, with more than 50 percent accessing the Internet at home once, or more than once a day.

Earlier, head of the technology group of PLDT and Smart Communications Inc. Rolando Peña said that the company would continue to spend bulk of its capital expenditures for its fiber optic technologies where it already spent about P40 billion over the past years.

Peña said the telco provider would earmark about 20 percent to 25 percent of its annual budget for capital expenditures for the laying down of optic fiber cable.