PLDT completes network upgrade ahead of schedule

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) announced Tuesday, September 11, that it finished its P67-billion (USD$1.6 billion) network modernization program ahead of schedule, and that customers should already be feeling the benefits of better service.

“The group’s investments have produced a network that is unrivaled in terms of coverage, capacity, and resiliency,” PLDT President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno said in a statement released on September 11.

The two-year network modernization program began in early 2011 and the target completion date was end-2012. Finishing early means customers already feel the effects of the program, namely better quality and more reliable service.

The program – which involves expanding cell sites, laying new fiber optic cables and even completing an undersea international cable system – will more than triple voice and data capacity.

“What was already the most extensive and advanced network in the country has been further super-charged with our access network providing the widest coverage via the expansion of LTE sites and a transport network that rides on over 48,000 kilometers (kms) of fiber assets with an additional 6,000 kms of Fiber-to-the-Home rolled out,” said Nazareno.

“We are close to covering the whole of Metro Manila with the more reliable and faster fiber connection and gaining momentum in servicing the rest of the country,” he added.
 
Nazareno explained that 3G coverage now reaches the majority of the population, while even faster Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technologies are being piloted in a growing number of areas.

Even back-end IT services and platforms for customer relations management, billing and business operations have been revamped.

PLDT also undertook a core network upgrade that added an international undersea cable system that more than doubled the group’s international bandwidth capacity.
 
“No other provider comes close to the network that we have now, not just in terms of capacity but more importantly, in terms of resiliency and efficiency,” stressed Nazareno.

He added that the group is prepared for the “data explosion” that is expected in the future.

Mobile data traffic worldwide is expected to see a tenfold jump by 2016, according to a 2011 study by Swedish telecom giant Ericsson. The predictions have been felt in Philippine telecommunication firms’ bottomlines. PLDT alone saw mobile internet revenues nearly double, with 97% growth in the first 6 months of the year, compared to the same period in 2011.

Where Globe stands

Rival Globe Telecom expects its own $790-million network modernization program to be finished by the first quarter of 2013.

Already, the program is close to 50% complete. Upgrades have been completed in several areas including, South Luzon, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon, Navotas, Apayao, Sulu, Tawi Tawi, Zamboanga, Sibugay, Sorsogon and Basilan.

Within Metro Manila, Quezon City is expected to be completed by this September, with the Ortigas Business District following in October, and Makati in November.

Globe President Ernest Cu has stressed that their network modernization is unique because it involves building a new network and not just rebuilding an old network.
 
“Others mask modernization with simply a business-as-usual change-out of old equipment. At Globe, our transformation is very different because it is indeed building a brand new network,” he said.

While the fiber assets are not as vast as PLDT’s, Globe is installing 12,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable, which will serve as the main backbone for providing faster mobile internet.

Globe said it is unrolling 3 times the number of 3G base stations to increase its coverage area and provide better service.

The upgrades are expected to address customer complaints about slow mobile Internet that can be felt on the overloaded older networks.

“In the Philippines, as we have said many times before in the past, the networks were actually built for text traffic and not for mobile internet. SMS networks are characterized by very thin backhaul capabilities. Very fast mobile internet almost requires purely fiber optics in terms of backhaul because of the tremendous amounts of data traveling from the base station all the way to the core and out on the internet,” explained Cu.
 
The CEO stressed that the new network will have “more capacity, lead to quicker, clearer and better quality call and text experience.”

Cu said Globe was also ahead of schedule and had been updating and installing more than 100 sites a week since this April.

“We are moving progressively forward and at a faster clip.  We are ahead of schedule so it’s very likely that we’ll accomplish the total change-out by the first quarter of 2013. Today, there are already marked improvement in cities that are 100% complete,” said the Globe CEO. – Rappler.com