PLDT completes PHP 2.5B fiber rollout ahead of schedule

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) says it has installed over 5,000 km of fiber-optic cables in the first half of the year to support the aggressive rollout of high-speed data services on its fixed and mobile networks.

Costing about PHP 2.5 billion ($57 million), PLDT has been expanding its fiber-optic network as part of its fiber to the home (FTTH) service and the fourth generation mobile data service called Long Term Evolution (LTE) of its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications.

“If we include our international fiber-optic links and leased facilities, the PLDT Group now has more than 71,000 km of fiber assets,” says PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno. “This fortifies our already formidable network advantage as we cover more areas, increase data speeds, and provide enhanced redundancies for improved resiliency.”

At the end of 2012, PLDT had more than 54,000 km of fiber-optic cables in its domestic fiber-optic network, which was already four times more than the competition. That figure has been raised to over 60,000 km by mid-2013. In addition, the company has almost 7,200 km of international submarine fiber-optic cables and over 4,000 km of domestic submarine fiber.

PLDT Technology group head Rolando Pena says PLDT’s FTTH service has already reached two million homes passed as of June 2013 as part of the expansion program. “Even as we hit our programmed expansion for the year in just six months, we continue to lay down fiber-optic cables nationwide to accelerate our FTTH rollout and hit 2.2 million homes passed by the end of the year,” Pena adds.

PLDT says it has already covered more than 600 high-end residential subdivisions across the country with its ultra-fast Fibr service, which provides subscribers with connection speed of up to 100 Mbps that allows seamless streaming of high-definition movies.

Pena notes that PLDT mobile subsidiary, Smart Communications, has also equipped over 500 base stations in Manila with its high-speed LTE service, which is supported by the fiber network. The LTE technology allows mobile speeds of up to 42 Mbps.

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