PLDT completes Palawan-Iloilo link

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. has completed the rollout of 300 kilometers of underwater fiber optic cables linking Palawan and Iloilo.

In a statement, PLDT said the P861-million project connected Taytay in Palawan to San Jose de Buenavista in Iloilo, one of PLDT’s major hubs within its domestic fiber optic network.

PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said the new fiber optic facilities would enable PLDT to provide fiber-to-the-home facilities that delivered multimedia-rich services to its customers and support the operations of its wireless subsidiaries, Smart Communications and Sun Cellular.

“With its extensive fiber optic network, the PLDT Group remains unmatched in delivering high-quality voice, data, and multimedia services to its customers,” Nazareno said.

PLDT technology group head Rolando Pena said PLDT had aggressively expanded its fiber optic network in the last three years to reach more than 78,000 kilometers nationwide.

“This new vital link from Palawan to Iloilo will provide future-proof transmission facilities that are capable of supporting higher bandwidth, higher availability and access to the IP-based mode of data transport,” Pena said in the same statement.

PLDT earlier completed the installation of more than 150 kilometers of submarine fiber optic cables amounting P400 million that linked the island of Bohol with the major network centers in Visayas and Mindanao.

That linkage bolstered the telco’s services in the fast growing tourism and business process outsourcing hubs in central Philippines, PLDT said in the statement.