PLDT allots $550M for capex this year
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes (Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines, February 15, 2008 – Telecommunications industry leader Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has programmed $550 million in capital expenditures for 2008, to be used for the expansion of its network infrastructure and upgrading of its capacities in relevant areas across the country.

The expansion will cover what are called “new wave” cities to further enable the offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) industry to becoming more globally competitive, according to PLDT first vice president for corporate business Nerissa Ramos who spoke at yesterday’s eServices Event 2008.

Meanwhile, PLDT announced that Smart Broadband Inc. (SBI), a subsidiary of Smart Communications, has completed its acquisition of all of the assets of Cruz Telephone Co. (Cruztelco), a telecommunications company operating in Northeast Mindanao.

Since 2004, PLDT has been managing Cruztelco’s network infrastructure and facilities for the provision of local exchange services by Cruztelco in Northeast Mindanao, under a facilities management agreement (FMA).

SBI’s acquisition of the Cruztelco assets was approved by the National Telecommunications Commission on Jan. 21, 2008.

Also yesterday, Ramos pointed out that if this industry hopes to sustain the dramatic growth it has experienced over the years, relentless excellence should not only be a business imperative, but in fact, a way of life.

“As PLDT enters its 80th year of service to the country, we continue to be the industry’s partner in changing lives through steadfast commitment to excellence. The proof of which is that for 2008, we have allocated significant resources into further raising the bar of excellence in service quality, innovation, and infrastructure,” she said.

Ramos revealed that PLDT has invested in 17 international cable projects around the globe at a cost of approximately $238 million. Four of these systems – namely, APCN, APCN2, GP, and SEAMEWE 3 – are hosted by PLDT for their termination in the Philippines, the most among local carriers.

As of 2007, PLDT operated a total of 90 gigabits per second in international cable system capacity over two landing stations via five major cable systems, the largest and the most diverse in the country. By the end 2008, international capacity will increase to 125 Gbps, she said.

“It is this diverse high-bandwidth international capacity as well as best-practice processes and systems that form PLDT’s competitive advantage and allowed PLDT to quickly restore major international links, most of them from the O&O segment, during the well-publicized cable breaks caused by the Taiwan quake in 2006. This prompt restoration has minimized business affecting downtimes and its attendant loses due to this fateful incident, “Ramos emphasized.

Apart from international capacities, she noted that PLDT continues to grow its domestic networks to support the broadband internet and data explosion. By the end of 2008, PLDT’s domestic fiber optic Network or DFON will have near terabit capacity or 910 Gbps.

“This fiber optic network is configured in eight self-healing rings extending to as far south as Davao and as far north as Cagayan province. DFON, complemented with our domestic Ethernet and IP networks, will provide superior connectivity options nationwide, enabling O & O’s to expand into their desired “New Wave City” to as far as Ilocos and the Cordilleras in the north and Davao and General Santos in the south, without any worry of infrastructure availability,” she said.

To support the economy which has become more and more dependent on the power of the internet, PLDT is expanding its DSL capacity across the country to one million lines by maximizing existing technologies and introducing next generation facilities.

The company will be complementing this by doubling its Internet Gateway to 50 terabits per second capacity, providing more Filipinos and Philippine businesses with high-quality access to the infinite wealth of information in the Worldwide Web.

Ramos added that to further enable broadband explosion, PLDT is growing its wireless network to more than 7,000 cell sites capable of delivering GPRS/EDGE and more than 1,000 delivering 3G / HSDPA and HSPA Internet speeds via mobile phones and other mobile data devices such as WeRoam.

“Our fixed-wireless network, which enables our SmartBro service, will also be upgraded to more than 2,000 sites, reaching more than 500 municipalities and moving the Internet closer to more Filipinos and Philippine businesses in even the remotest areas of the countryside,” she said.

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SubicTel Completes Fiber Optic Project

MANILA, Philippines, November 28, 2007 – Subic Telecommunications Company Inc. (SubicTel), a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., has completed its state-of-the-art fiber optic connection, paving the way for new investors in Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The project was completed through PLDT’s P210 million investment to expand its nationwide Domestic Fiber Optic Network (DFON) to Subic with 286 kilometers of fiber optic cables. SubicTel is now part of this unparalleled network that can support new investments in the Freeport Zone.

This DFON expansion has also allowed SubicTel to upgrade and enhance the DSL network in the Freeport Zone, thus providing more reliable high-speed broadband services.

SubicTel General Manager Henry Abes said this is a welcome development for the locators in the area especially because of their critical communications needs.

“We committed to complete the project by December, and we are happy to report that we are a little early. We will now be able to address the needs of existing and potential customers much more quickly,” he said.

The first leg of the new fiber optic connection was completed when the operations center of Korean shipbuilding firm Hanjin, which is investing $1.7 billion for its shipyard, was connected from Redondo Peninsula in Subic to SubicTel in the Freeport Zone in late July.

The Hanjin fiber optic link spans about 25 kilometers, passing through Subic town and Olongapo City in Zambales province. Hanjin is now directly connected to its headquarters in Korea by way of PLDT's international link.

With the activation of the P210-million project by next month, locators in the Freeport Zone will benefit from PLDT's robust nationwide DFON backbone for increased and very much improved data connectivity. The DFON is the country’s most extensive and robust fiber optic network that has been a key enabler of PLDT’s cutting-edge services for retail and corporate customers.

Now that SubicTel is connected to DFON, it will now be able to provide better quality of service and new services such as bundled voice, data and video.

“With this fiber optic connection, SubicTel can now offer services that are quicker to deploy and more efficient in terms of network usage,” added Abes.

The network expansion project spans 286 kilometers of fiber optic cables that form several redundant loops covering Angeles, Clark, Porac, San Fernando, Guagua, Lubao and Floridablanca in Pampanga, and Dinalupihan in Bataan, Subic Town in Zambales, and Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Olongapo.

The fiber backhaul connectivity has multi-loops to provide the redundancy in case of fiber breaks. IP Radio facilities for additional redundancy have also been installed.

“Redundancy is very important for locators in Subic. Avoiding costly service disruptions is foremost in their minds,” said Abes. “With the completion of this project, Subic Bay Freeport Zone will now become a much more attractive haven for investors in ICT and BPOs.”

Earlier this year, SubicTel connected another 45-Mbps bandwidth pipe from PLDT, doubling last year’s bandwidth capacity. With the installation of the fiber optic network, this will further increase bandwidth capacity to 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) or STM-16 to meet increasing demands of customers.

The 2.5 Gbps bandwidth is enough for 30,240 simultaneous voice calls.

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SubicTel expands capacity with fiber optic cable

MANILA, Philippines, May 15, 2007 – Subic Telecommunications Company Inc. (SubicTel), a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., will soon have a state-of-the-art fiber optic connection that will increase its capacity for data services in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

SubicTel General Manager Henry Abes said the telecommunications company will soon be part of PLDT’s Domestic Fiber Optic Network, the country’s most extensive fiber optic network.

“This is a P212 million project that will be completed by PLDT by the end of the year. This will increase the Internet bandwidth capacity of SubicTel, provide better quality of service, and allow for new services such as bundled voice, data and video,” said Abes.

“Subic Bay Freeport Zone, in particular, will now become a much more attractive haven for ICT investments such as call centers and BPOs—companies that need high bandwidth services and reliable connections.”

The new network will span 285 kilometers of fiber optic cables that will form several redundant loops covering Angeles, Clark, Porac, San Fernando, Guagua, Lubao and Floridablanca in Pampanga, and Dinalupihan in Bataan, Subic Town in Zambales, and Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Olongapo.

Earlier this year, SubicTel just connected another 45 Mbps bandwidth pipe from PLDT, doubling last year’s bandwidth capacity. With the installation of the fiber optic network, this will further increase bandwidth capacity to 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) or STM-16 to meet increasing demands of customers.

The 2.5 Gbps bandwidth is enough for 30,240 simultaneous voice calls.

“The fiber backhaul connectivity that we are building is very robust. It has multi-loops to provide the redundancy in case of fiber breaks. We also have IP Radio facilities for additional redundancy insurance,” said Abes.

Aside from the capacity, redundancy is a very important requirement for prospective locators in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. With the fiber optic network of Subic connected to the PLDT DFON in a series of rings, traffic is rerouted to many possible routes, thus avoiding costly service disruptions.

SubicTel has tapped Fujitsu Philippines, a leading provider of customer-focused information technology and communications solutions, to maintain SubicTel’s facilities in order to efficiently provide data services such as DSL, or digital subscriber line.

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