Telco targets to hit 90% nationwide coverage

CEBU, Philippines — The Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT) vowed to hit 90 percent nationwide coverage before the end of this year.

As of end-June, Smart has installed more than 3,900 LTE base stations, increasing the total count by 45 percent to over 12,600, and enabling Smart to improve its Long Term Evolution (LTE) coverage, as well as to activate LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), which offers even higher data speeds and capacity.

In a statement, PLDT reiterated its commitment to fulfill its pledge to the  National Telecommunications Commission  (NTC) to provide high-speed wireless data services in over 90 percent of the country’s cities and municipalities by the end of 2018.

Likewise, along with its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), the telecom giant accelerated the rollout of the group’s fixed and wireless networks, boosting data speeds and company revenues in the first half of the year.

Aside from rolling out LTE and LTE-A across the country’s main urban hub Metro Manila, Smart has also successfully fired up LTE and LTE-A as far north as Batanes, Sagada and Cagayan, as well as in Palawan, Sorsogon, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Davao and Sarangani, to name a few.

As of end-June, PLDT has also increased the coverage of its fiber-power fixed broadband network to 5.07 million homes passed and boosted its capacity to 1.86 million ports, nearing its full-year target of 2.2 million ports.

Underpinning PLDT and Smart’s fixed and mobile network roll-out was the expansion of PLDT’s fiber optic transmission and distribution network. In the first half of 2018, PLDT increased its fiber footprint to 204,000 kilometers, rolling out over 29,000 kilometers of fiber cable further increasing the reach, capacity and resiliency of PLDT’s fiber network. These expansion projects greatly enhance Smart’s mobile network by providing high-capacity fiber connections for LTE base stations.

With its extensive fiber coverage, PLDT is transforming entire areas into fiber-enabled “Smart cities”. Toledo City, Cebu was the first to roll out full coverage of fiber-to-the-home in the area, followed by General Santos City in Mindanao, Naga in the Bicol Region, and South Metro Manila which includes Paranaque and Las Piñas, East Metro Manila which includes Pasig and Antipolo, and central business districts like Rockwell Makati and Bonifacio Global City. Cavite became the first “Smart province” late last year.

Recently, PLDT rolled out fiber in the tourist town of El Nido in Palawan with future plans of expanding to other municipalities to benefit residents, local businesses and industries, and the growing number of tourists visiting the island.

Fiber has also been rolled out in the Metro Manila cities of Pasay, Marikina, Taguig and Caloocan; in Northern and Central Luzon areas like Laoag, Baguio, Vigan, Tuguegarao, Tarlac, Cabanatuan and San Fernando; Southern Luzon areas like Laguna, Puerto Princesa, Sorsogon and Legazpi; and in Davao, South Cotabato, Cotabato, Koronadal, Zamboanga, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat. (FREEMAN)