PLDT rides on fintech’s growing market in PH

Telecom giant PLDT Inc. said its data center segment is poised to benefit from the market’s growing preference for financial technology (fintech) products, led by cashless payments.

PLDT itself participates directly in this sector through unit Voyager Innovations, which is best known for its Paymaya mobile wallet. This is the company’s response to the need to serve large segments of the population without access to traditional banking services.

“The need for a more convenient payment experience has resulted in the increasing number of digital transactions. This will continue not only because of preference but also due to the emergence of new markets and players that offer digital payment options. To sustain this growth, financial institutions need the appropriate IT infrastructure that’s capable of meeting their demands and responding to challenges,” Nerissa Ramos, ePLDT senior vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

PLDT’s data center business is held under ePLDT.

The company cited a recent study by United States online payments giant PayPal, which was bullish on the Philippines becoming a so-called cashless nation. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is also pushing for more electronic payments.

PLDT said those initiatives “will lead to financial institutions tapping data centers to provide support in key areas, such as the assurance of business continuity and the protection of sensitive customer information.”

ePLDT operates the largest network of data centers that provides the aforementioned services and more.

It currently has 10 Vitro Data Centers located in Pasig, Parañaque, Taguig, Cebu, Subic, Davao, Makati, and Clark, Pampanga. These facilities combined give ePLDT a total rack capacity of 9,150—the largest in the country.

ePLDT’s flagship data center—Vitro Makati—holds a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) Version 3.2 certification, an international accreditation crucial for the financial industry. Compliance with PCI-DSS standards ensures that the organization is adequately protected against security breaches and theft of cardholder data.