PLDT to complete 3 ICT projects in Davao

MANILA, Philippines – By September, PLDT Incorporated will complete 3 major information and communications technology (ICT) projects in Davao City seen to improve the region’s digital infrastructure and support its economic growth.

These 3 major ICT projects are PLDT’s 4th cable landing station, an Innolab or innovation laboratory, and the telco’s 8th data center.

PLDT said in a statement on Tuesday, August 9, that capital spending budget for these projects form part of its programmed capital expenditures of P48 billion for 2016. (READ: PLDT bets on Mindanao’s sunny outlook)

“It is within our short and medium term mission to accelerate the necessary investments to help build and strengthen the region’s enterprises, and enable them to become locally if not globally competitive via digital tools and solutions,” PLDT Executive Vice President Eric Alberto said.

Wider reach for Mindanao subs

PLDT said the cable landing station in Davao is set to be fired up by the end of August.

The station will directly link PLDT’s network in Mindanao to all 3 existing international gateways in Nasugbu, Batangas; Bauang, La Union; and Daet, Camarines Norte.

This will improve resiliency and latency of international data traffic going in and out of Mindanao, Alberto said.

He added that the cable landing station also connects Mindanao to PLDT’s international managed network that has points of presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, and the United Kingdom.

PLDT said the Innolab facility, located in Poblacion in Davao, will help showcase how new technologies can benefit commercial operations and improve efficiencies in businesses, as well as offer educational tours to schools that are beneficial to engineering and IT students.

PLDT currently has 7 Innolab facilities across the country, including the recently opened showroom at the Makati central business district.

“These projects will help fortify our network to carry and serve the rising data traffic from our subscribers, both in the enterprise and consumer spaces,” Alberto said.

Hub for regional businesses 

Like most of the data centers in the PLDT’s network, the data center in Davao will obtain the certifications required by industries with heavy data security requirements, like banks and financial institutions.

PLDT said the Davao data center can accommodate hosting, collocation, and business continuity services for enterprises. It will also be a suitable secondary back-up location for businesses with data already housed in other data centers across the country.

PLDT Group currently operates 7 data centers in the country, with the recent addition of its largest data center in Makati City.

It targets to expand its data center facilities to 10 by 2017, with a rack capacity of over 9,000 – the largest by any provider in the country.

“With PLDT’s overarching objective of enabling businesses nationwide to be globally competitive in an evolving digital environment, we are nurturing a digital hub in southern Philippines,” Alberto said. – Rappler.com