PLDT delays upgrade to address congestion issues
By Lenie Lectura (Reporter)

MANILA, Philippines, February 23, 2008 – THE Philippines’ largest telecommunications company has delayed its planned upgrade to its New Generation Network (NGN) — which, like the Internet, transmits voice, data and video in packets—while it addresses congestion issues within its current system.

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) told the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that it is currently decommissioning switches and/or facilities to reduce the load on their congested trunks. As a result, subscribers of Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (Bayan) and Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (PT&T) have been unable to call up PLDT numbers.

“Internal network congestion being experienced by PLDT and not call restriction are the causes of inaccessibility issues experienced by carriers connected to network of PLDT,” said the company.

In December last year, PLDT said it tapped British Telecom (BT) to assist the company in its transformation to a new generation communications company.

“We have actually engaged with the advisory group of British Telecom to help us plan the transition on NGN,” said PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan.

A study is being drafted to determine how long the migration from a so-called legacy system to an NGN will take place.

Pangilinan said PLDT wants to learn from the experiences of BT, one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries.

BT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc, and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

Earlier, PLDT, a former monopoly, was accused by PT&T of unilaterally blocking voice calls coming from the latter’s network.

PT&T had already asked the NTC to prevent PLDT from blocking all traffic from PT&T to PLDT subscribers in the “02” local exchange calling area.

According to PT&T, a cease and desist order should be issued against PLDT because the constriction has greatly affected the efficiency of the telecommunications services that PT&T provides to its subscribers.

Previously, outgoing calls from PT&T to PLDT were successfully connected nine out of ten times, PT&T said. Currently, only one such call out of ten is successful.

But the telecommunications giant defended itself from the unfounded claim of ‘traffic restriction’ raised by PT&T.

It pointed out that the network and facilities upgrade being undertaken in Metro Manila resulted in internal network congestion.

“The problem on network inaccessibility experienced by PT&T was also being experienced by Bayan who brought the matter to the attention of PLDT,” said PLDT.

Bayan said the so-called inaccessibility problem is causing great inconvenience to the public. The call completion rate (CCR) between Bayan and PLDT has dropped to as low as 18 percent from an average of about 60 percent.

In the Quezon City area, the CCR has gone down to 17.91 percent during mid-January this year. In Las Piñas, the CCR went down to 18 percent in the same period. Bayan monitored a CCR of 33 percent in Sampaloc, Manila.

A coordinated effort of both Bayan and PLDT to address the accessibility issue has confirmed congestion in the latter’s network.

PLDT said the network congestion is now being remedied.

“Taking into consideration PLDT’s load balancing activity certain dates were set for Makati, Las Piñas and Sampaloc,” it said, adding that the company has also re-activated the trunks upon receiving Bayan’s complaints.

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PLDT’s domestic fiber optic network to reach terabit capacity by year-end
By EDU H. LOPEZ (Manila Bulletin)

MANILA, Philippines, February 18, 2008 – The domestic fiber optic network (DFON) of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is expected to reach the terabit capacity by the end of 2008.

Nerissa S. Ramos, PLDT first vice president for corporate business told participants of the eServices 2008 conference that the fiber optic network is configured in eight self-healing rings extending to as far as Davao in Mindanao and Cagayan province in the north.

"DFON, complemented with our domestic ethernet and IP networks, will provide superior connectivity options nationwide, enabling the outsourcing and offshoring sectors 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," said Ramos.

The expansion of PLDT’s network infrastructure and the upgrading of its capacities across the country is part of its P22-billion capital expenditure earmarked for 2008.

"To support our economy which has become to be more and more dependent on the power of the Internet, we are expanding DSL capacity across the country to one million lines by maximizing existing technologies and introducing next-generation facilities," said Ramos.

PLDT would also be complementing the DSL capacity by doubling its Internet Gateway to 50 Terabits per second capacity, providing more Filipinos and businesses with high-quality access to the infinite wealth of information in the worldwide web.

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 your 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."

"All these infrastructure investments as well as our steadfast commitment to excellence have made PLDT the obvious partner-of-choice for Global-Class Providers doing business in the Philippines . These partnerships assure you of unprecedented global reach, and operational excellence," said Ramos.

Ramos stressed that beyond the economics of profit, the PLDT Group believes that these are investments in the future of the country as the Philippines compete for world capital.

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