Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said telecommunications infrastructure in provinces in Southern Luzon will be better equipped to deal with natural calamities like storms with the completion of its P216-million network resiliency program.
PLDT, the country’s biggest telecommunications services provider, said the program involved placing more of its fiber optic cables underground, which would serve both fixed and wireless customers in the covered areas.
The fortification project covers the Laguna towns of Calamba, Los Baños, Calauan, Pila, Sta. Cruz, Liliw and San Pablo.
“Learning from our experience in past typhoons, this project will help fortify our fiber optic network in Luzon, particularly the southern part which is often affected by calamities,” PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said in a statement.
Nazareno said underground cables were less vulnerable to fiber cuts due to typhoons and landslides.
“Underground fiber optic cables are more resilient because they are not susceptible to cuts brought about by strong winds, falling trees and utility poles. A resilient network can provide and maintain reliable service even in disruptive conditions such as typhoons,” he said.
The move was part of efforts to help Southern Luzon to “get back on its feet” after Typhoon “Glenda,” one of the strongest typhoons in 2014 with turbulent winds of up to 185 kilometers per hour, PLDT said.
The southern Luzon fortification is part of PLDT’s capital spending plan for 2015.
As of the end of 2014, PLDT has already rolled out 619 kilometers of underground fiber optic cables in Northern Luzon, strengthening its capacity to provide multimedia services to some 11 million subscribers of PLDT, mobile subsidiaries Smart and Sun Cellular and around 450,000 PLDT Home customers.