PLDT’s P2.8B fiber optic network completed

PLDT's P2.8B fiber optic network completed

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:38:00 12/02/2010


MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has completed the construction of a P2.8-billion fiber optic network that will bring faster and more reliable broadband connection speeds to the Visayas and Mindanao areas.

In a briefing at its Makati headquarters on Thursday, PLDT said its new Domestic Fiber Optic Network (DFON) would help drive the growth of vital industries such as business process outsourcing (BPO) outside the Metro Manila area.

"Our transmission backbone is now much more resilient, thus, raising the quality and reliability of our services," PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said.

"We can also provide more communities with both basic and advanced broadband services, unlocking new economic opportunities for central and southern Philippines," he said.

The new cable system, which is 1,300 kilometers long, will stretch from parts of the Bicol province all the way to the Mindanao area through Visayas.

Two fiber-optic cable systems were built on different sides of the country. With two cables in place, PLDT said its service would remain reliable even if one of the cables snapped.

In the past, accidental cable cuts have caused slowdowns in bandwidth speeds, outraging many of the company's household and corporate subscribers.

The cable system will have a capacity of 1.5 terabytes per second. This will allow the company to open up four million new digital subscriber line (DSL) connections in the areas near the cable system. Today, PLDT serves just 600,000 DSL lines.

Eric Alberto, head for customer sales and marketing, said the new network would also allow the company to deliver high-bandwidth services such as high-definition video streaming and social networking on mobile phones.

Alberto said the new network would make provinces around the country, where communications infrastructure had previously been a setback, more attractive for BPO firms to set up shop in.

"This latest DFON expansion greatly reduces the risk of downtimes which will benefit not only large corporations but also small businesses and households," PLDT customer service assurance group head Rolando G. Pena said.

The country's BPO sector currently employs about 600,000 employees. It is expected to end the year with over $9 billion in revenue.—Paolo G. Montecillo

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