Now Corp., a company owned by businessman Mel Velarde, said Monday it is expanding its high-speed broadband service to key cities nationwide to address the fast-growing digitalization of many businesses.
Newly-appointed Now Corp. president and chief executive Henry Andrews Abes said the company is bullish about the growth prospects in sub-urban areas because of several factors.
"First is the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program which has fueled the growth of sub-urban economic centers. Second is next year’s elections which is expected to improve spending. And third is the anticipated improvement in consumer spending as more and more people get inoculated, which is a welcome boon to the corporate sector," Abes said.
“All these economic factors shall spur the demand of gigabit broadband services especially in key cities outside of Metro Manila. Our strategy is to first go after the corporate, enterprise and government market segments. This market segment is more discriminatory when it comes to their broadband connection and being able to serve this market segment shall allow Now to cement its presence in economic growth areas. We will expand where the growth is," he said.
The company made a mark in the delivery of internet access to corporate and enterprise segment in Metro Manila through fixed wireless access dubbed as “Now Fiber Air”. It provides always-on access to the Internet with speeds of up to 2.4 gigabits per second, catering to the enterprise segment including hospitals, banking, schools, hotels, government agencies and SMEs.
Now also offers residential broadband services for people living across Metro Manila who live inside apartment complexes or condominiums with limited wireless coverage.
Abes said Now has been providing broadband connectivity to critical industries such as banking, healthcare, government, industrial economic zones and logistics. All these industries, he said, rely on broadband connectivity to continue their services during the pandemic.
“Through our partnership with our telecom affiliate, Now Telecom, we aim to deliver this ‘gigabit broadband revolution’ nationwide especially at this time when broadband is needed the most,” Abes said.
Now Telecom expects to solidify its presence in the market after the government renewed its legislative franchise for another 25 years to build and operate a telecommunications network nationwide.
“Now Telecom has the technology of providing over gigabit speed of capacity to corporate clients. These technologies can either be the use of fiber optic, fixed wireless, or even satellite and 5G, we will be able to serve corporate and government clients needing this gigabit service nationwide. Once we know the need, we can design a complete and integrated solution,” said Now Telecom president and chief executive Rene Rosales.
He said Now Telecom possesses the most competitive franchise to operate a nationwide wired, wireless, satellite and cellular mobile telecom services networks.
Now Corp. earlier increased its shareholding in Now Telecom from 19 percent to 24.23 percent, as the latter is setting the stage for its own public listing and its fifth generation network rollout.