PLDT to lure global tech giants with largest data center in PH

MANILA, Philippines—PLDT Inc. announced a plan to build its largest and most powerful data center in a bid to lure global technology giants and cloud service providers to the Philippines.

In a statement on Tuesday (Oct. 19), PLDT said the facility, whose location and size were not disclosed, would have more capacity in one facility versus all of its 10 VITRO data centers combined.

“We are very optimistic and bullish about the hyperscaler demand in the enterprise sector,” said Nico Alcoseba, PLDT vice president and head of ICT business for enterprise.

“To support the growing needs of global technology giants and cloud service providers expanding in the region, we at the PLDT Group are proud to announce that we will be building the first hyperscaler data center facility in the Philippines,” he added.

Data centers, power-intensive facilities that operate non-stop, provide crucial data storage and IT services to businesses.

PLDT said the new data center will be telco neutral and will use “green technology” to make operations more sustainable.

It added the facility will be Tier-3 certified and Tier-4 ready once it starts operations.

Tier 3 data centers are protected against virtually all physical events to ensure continuous services while while those classified as Tier 4 provide the highest level of tolerance and redundancy, according to technology giant Cisco.

PLDT said the expansion of its data center business was in step with the government’s initiatives to make the Philippines a more attractive destination for global technology players.

Alcoseba also detailed efforts to improve their data centers.

“First, we are adding more power capacity per rack to support the dense and high-powered equipment of hyperscalers,” he said.

“Second, we’re further enhancing the reliability and energy efficiency of our data center facilities. And last, we’re also looking for ways to deliver Renewable Energy to support the carbon neutrality commitments of these companies,” he added.

The PLDT Group operates the largest network of data centers in the country with its VITRO data center facilities in different strategic locations.

PLDT said the facilities were also linked to its nationwide internet backbone and 14 international submarine cable systems.

It said three more submarine cables were in construction—the Jupiter cable system, the Apricot cable, and the Asia Direct cable. These will be routed through PLDT’s three existing cable landing stations in Batangas, Daet, and La Union.

TSB