PLDT putting up congestion-free network

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. is putting up a congestion-free network to enable its customers to get the best experience while doing online activities such as streaming video or using video conferencing apps.

PLDT chief technology and information advisor Joachim Horn said PLDT and Smart’s networks are being designed in such a way that so-called “busy hours” are the norm and not the exception.

This ensures the telco delivers consistent customer experience at a sustained level of data traffic.

“We have to design not just for the average – we have to design for peak throughput. When we can cope with the peak throughput in the busiest time of the day – only then can our network be able to serve all customers on the service level we have promised,” Horn said.

Horn said the old-school concept of “peak hours” is no longer true.

“Before, in addition to ensuring that we are able to reach all our customers, we also made sure that there is good utilization of the network. That served us well in times of voice and messaging, but in the age of data, this no longer works,” he said.

“There is no busy hour anymore, in the original sense – it used to be that there’s an hour in a morning, and an hour in the evening when we had a lot of traffic, and then the rest of time, traffic was considerably less. Today, from early in the morning until late in the evening, the level of traffic is the same. Yesterday’s busy hour is now actually a busy day,” Horn said.

PLDT and Smart remained as the country’s fastest fixed and mobile internet networks, respectively, as of the first half, according to global leader in internet testing and analysis Ookla.

To serve the growing demand and deliver technologies like 5G, LTE and fiber-to-the-home.PLDT is expanding the capacity of its transport network as part of its ongoing network modernization program.

PLDT said the transformation program has enabled the company to cope with the increased customer demand for data, especially at the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

With the new technology in place, PLDT and Smart have been able to remotely control, add capacity, activate services and optimize and manage user experience.

PLDT’s transport network or fiber optic network currently spans 382,500 kilometers – the most extensive in the country. This infrastructure also supports Smart’s mobile network by providing high-capacity links for base stations.