PLDT set to complete fiber optic expansion

MANILA, Philippines - Leading multimedia and telecoms company Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is set to complete a P544-million expansion project to increase the capacity of its domestic fiber optic network (DFON) by double-digit levels in the first quarter of next year.

PLDT president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno said the expansion project would increase the total capacity of its DFON by 13 percent or from 520 gigabits per second to 4.6 terabits per second.

 “We are undertaking this project because our broadband subscriber base is growing in all market segments - among individual or home customers in both fixed and mobile businesses as well as in the large and small enterprises segments. Moreover, the bandwidth requirement per customer is rising as more services and applications become available through the Internet,” he said.

In its meeting Tuesday, the PLDT board approved the expansion project of the company’s DFON that currently stretches 90,000 kilometers in anticipation of the rapidly rising data usage of the PLDT Group’s subscriber base and the need to strengthen the resiliency of its extensive fiber network.

This is the PLDT Group’s 18th expansion project since the transmission network was launched in 1997.

“The PLDT Group is also expanding the footprint of its domestic broadband coverage to cover more parts of the country and we are adding capacity to maintain the resiliency of our growing network. Our investment program enables us to maintain the clear superiority of our network infrastructure which is the most extensive and robust in the country,” Nazareno added.

Last week, PLDT’s wireless subsidiaries launched a special offer to provide free mobile Internet for the 66 million prepaid subscribers of Smart, Talk N Text and Sun Cellular.

Initially available up to Nov. 30, this unprecedented move is expected to boost mobile data usage among prepaid subscribers who currently do not use their mobile handsets to go online.

Part of the PLDT Group’s P32-billion capital expenditure program for this year, this expansion project involves the installation of higher-capacity equipment that will provide increased bandwidth and speeds for PLDT DSL subscribers, particularly in Metro Manila, Visayas and northern Mindanao regions.

PLDT technology head Roland Pena said the project would supply added data capacity for mobile subscribers of Smart, Talk N Text and Sun Cellular, particularly in the Visayan and Mindanao regions and at the same time boost bandwidth for corporate leased lines and other enterprise requirements in Luzon and the Visayas.

 “With demand for high-speed Internet services rising, we are making timely investments in order to stay ahead of these anticipated trends,” Pena said.

The capacity expansion project comes in the heels of the extension of the PLDT DFON’s coverage to the islands of Palawan and Bohol in support of industry initiatives to locate more outsourcing companies in different parts of the country.

It also follows Smart’s move to expand the footprint of the group’s high-speed wireless broadband network by adding another 1,400 4G long term evolution (LTE) cell sites by the end of this year.

 “We’ve gotten a very encouraging response to our free Internet offer. This plus the other initiatives are all expected to boost data usage across both fixed and mobile platforms in many different parts of the country. This new capacity expansion program will enable us to provide quality data services to the as the demand for these grows,” he added.

For 2015, PLDT is spending between P30 billion and P35 billion representing 18 percent to 20 percent of its total revenues for its capital expenditures to further expand its extensive network.