PLDT Inc. will expand its ultrafast broadband coverage to six million homes nationwide by 2020.
“By 2019, virtually all of PLDT’s 1.2 million copper-based DSL subscribers will enjoy fiber-fast Internet. PLDT will further expand its ultrafast broadband coverage to 6 million homes passed by 2020, reaching more areas of the country,” PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan said.
As of last year PLDT had four million homes passed nationwide, up nearly 43 percent from the previous year.
Along with greater coverage, PLDT also increased the capacity of its fixed broadband network to over one million ports by the end of 2017, double the number two years ago.
The biggest increases in the number of ports or actual broadband lines in 2017 were posted in the provinces of Cavite, Pampanga, Bataan, Zambales, Cebu, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija and Laguna.
“Because of this rapid expansion of fiber-fast world-class connectivity, PLDT customers are able to enjoy seamless viewing of their favorite movies, listen to their music playlist, play online games without any lags, or simply visit and engage on their social networking sites,” PLDT senior vice president and head of consumer market development Oscar Reyes said.
PLDT is deploying fiber-fast connectivity through the installation of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) facilities and the “fibrization” of its existing copper-based network through hybrid technologies, such as VVDSL and G.fast which are used extensively in Germany and South Korea, respectively.
FTTH can deliver speeds of up to 1 Gbps while hybrid fiber can provide data speeds ranging from 100 Mbps (for VVDSL) up to 500 Mbps (for G.fast) over copper lines.
Pangilinan earlier said PLDT would spend over P50 billion every year until 2020 to supercharge both its fixed and mobile networks.
He said the net result was that “within the next 12-18 months, world-class internet services on PLDT’s super-charged fixed and mobile networks will be available to more Filipinos in more parts of the country.”
PLDT earlier reported a net income of P21.87 billion in the first nine months of last year from P15.8 billion in 2016.