Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) completed a P1-billion IT infrastructure expansion program aimed at boosting services to corporate clients, the company said on Thursday.
The investment, part of PLDT’s estimated P29 billion in capital spending for 2013, allowed the telco to strengthen its so-called core Internet protocol infrastructure, as well as international and domestic networks, a statement showed.
Doing so would enable the company to handle larger volumes of data, voice and video traffic crucial in serving large businesses.
PLDT said it would be able to offer companies a Managed Ethernet International Private Leased Circuit, which would enable auto-switching of optic cable transmission in milliseconds in the event of an international cable system breakdown.
In a briefing, PLDT head of Alpha Enterprise Jovy Hernandez said the upgrade would benefit outsourcing companies serving the US market.
“Hong Kong is also a natural area and we are taking a look at other areas including Singapore,” he said.
PLDT said it had tapped Cisco for the upgrade of its core network. PLDT has also upgraded its international network in partnership with international network systems specialist, Ciena.
“Our enterprise customers can now rely on end-to-end managed services that are even more robust, reliable and resilient than before,” PLDT President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said in the statement.
Hernandez noted that PLDT’s IP backbone was designed using the latest intelligent networking technologies to bring “scalable, stable, redundant and resilient” network services.
It is the same platform that achieved Carrier Ethernet 2.0 global certification from the prestigious Metro Ethernet Forum. PLDT now holds the distinction of being the first and only telco to be CE 2.0 certified for six services in the entire Asia Pacific region, PLDT noted.
“This system enhancement would not only benefit new customers but also improve the experience of our current customers connected to PLDT’s 54,000-kilometer domestic fiber optic network—the country’s first true 100G transport network that made the Philippines at par with other highly developed economies in Asia,” Ernesto Alberto, PLDT executive vice president and Head of Enterprise, International and Carrier Business Groups, said in the statement.