PLDT beefs up Internet infrastructure

AFP FILE PHOTO / Jay DIRECTO

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the country’s biggest telecommunications provider, increased the coverage of its high-speed Internet infrastructure to over 400 cell sites at the end of last month, according to a statement released over the weekend.

The expansion of its so-called Time-Division Duplex-Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) network—more than double the 200 TD-LTE sites that had been installed as of April this year—extends the service to areas like Cebu, as well as new areas like Bohol and Boracay Island. The expansion also covers other provinces in central and southern Luzon and Mindanao.

The facilities will enable PLDT to deliver to customers its HOME Bro Ultera service, which provides speed of up to 10 megabits per second (Mbps).

“We are continuously expanding our TD-LTE network to further strengthen connections at home, especially for those in the remote towns and provinces of our country, by providing access to the Internet and allowing them to experience the benefits of broadband connectivity,” PLDT executive vice president and head of Home Business Ariel Fermin said in a statement.

“This complements our efforts to broadband the entire Philippines via fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and Next Generation Network (NGN) services,” PLDT Group Technology Head Rolando Peña said in the same statement.

TD-LTE is one of two wireless data transmission technologies that fall under the international standard of LTE, the other being Frequency-Division Duplex (LTE FDD) which is used by mobile networks. LTE is also known as 4G technology.

As of end-September, Smart deployed around 1,400 FDD LTE cell sites to various parts of the country. This brings the combined number of LTE cell sites for both fixed and mobile applications to over 1,800.

Each LTE cell site has three “sectors” or base stations, bringing the PLDT Group’s total number of LTE base stations to around 5,500, which is far ahead of the competition.

The PLDT Group continues to roll out its extensive fiber optic network, which now reaches more than 90,000 kilometers. Part of its P32-billion capital expenditure program for the year, the expansion of the fiber network has enabled the group to provide broadband services to more areas in the country.