PLDT unit to double number of Fibr-powered villages in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - PLDT Home, a unit of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., expects to double the number of villages covered by its fiber-to-the-home service as it expands to other areas outside Metro Manila.

In a press conference, PLDT vice president and head of Home Broadband Gary Dujali said the company intends to double the 1,000 villages powered by PLDT Home Fibr this year.

PLDT Home Fibr currently covers 1,000 villages in National Capital Region including the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Quezon, Pasig, San Juan, and Taguig.

The service is also available in several villages in Cebu and Davao.

“We are already in over 1,000 villages nationwide and we intend to double that this year,” Dujali said.

As part of PLDT’s transformation into a multimedia company, PLDT Home introduced a new innovation that would transform ordinary TV into Internet TVs with technology TVolution.

“The TVolution is just the first in many technological innovations PLDT Home is pioneering with the aim of making it every Filipino family’s multimedia home. With the TVolution, the entire Internet is at Fibr subscribers’ fingertips,” Dujali said.

Powered by quad-core processors, the TVolution operates on an Android-based platform and connects to any HDMI-ready TV and syncs with a PLDT Home Fibr WiFi connection.

The TVolution allows customers to stream blockbuster movies and TV series straight from the internet, using their PLDT Home Telpad or any Android device as remote control.

Its features include 4GB of internal data storage, a microSD card slot, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI input and output and two USB ports.

He said subscribers only need to make a minimal addition of P199 to their monthly Fibr subscriptions to gain access to a whole new world of content online through their televisions.

On top of high-definition movies from Clickplay and TV series from MyPinoyTV, TVolution users could also access more content by downloading apps like Spinnr powered by Smart Music and EA Games through PLDT Home’s knaAPPsack.

The TVolution also gives Fibr subscribers a multitasking TV through apps like Kingsoft Office, the ability to use their TVs to surf the Internet, and play games, both online and offline.

“TVolution is entertainment on demand; the days of aimless channel-surfing, looking for something good to watch, are over. Now, all of the video content of the Internet is made available to TVolution subscribers,” he said.