MANILA, Philippines —Globe Telecom Inc. is pushing ahead to complete the construction of all cable landing stations supporting the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network (PDSCN) this year as it ramps up infrastructure networks supporting digitalization. On Tuesday, the Ayala-led company said inland facilities for the $150-million subsea cable project were already 90-percent complete.
Cable landing stations are facilities linking undersea fiber optic cables and on-ground connectivity networks to transmit internet data.
Globe, along with partners telecommunications player Easter Communications and digital solutions provider InfiniVAN, recently opened these stations in Lucena City, Quezon; Boaca, Marinduque; Calatrava, Tablas Island in Romblon; Roxas City, Capiz; Placer, Masbate; Palompon, Leyte; Mactan, Cebu; Talisay City, Cebu; Tagbilaran City, Bohol, and Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental.
The group, meanwhile, completed the cable-laying in April last year
Robust connectivity services
The PDSCN is a 2,500-kilometer subsea cable project traversing Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. This seeks to provide robust connectivity services at a time of heightened digitalization across several sectors, including government, education and business.
READ: Globe to put up 2 new cable landing stations, expand data center portfolio
“The activation of the [subsea cable project] marks another milestone in our journey toward providing inclusive connectivity across the archipelago, especially in underserved and unserved areas,” Globe head of network planning and engineering Joel Agustin said.
Its competitors PLDT Inc. and Converge ICT Solutions Inc. have also been working on establishing longer submarine cable networks to facilitate the expected increase in data volume.
Last year, Globe spent P70.6 billion in capital expenditures (CapEx) to fund its network infrastructure. The telco giant built 1,217 new cell sites, upgraded nearly 7,000 mobile sites and installed 894 new 5G sites across the country. It now has 5G outdoor coverage of 97.9 percent in the National Capital Region and 92.36 percent in key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao.
READ: Globe income tumbles 29% despite record-high revenue
This year, CapEx is set at $1 billion, which will be funded via internal cash flow, proceeds from tower sales and debts. By 2025, Globe targets to further cut down spending to below $1 billion.
Coming from a high base due to a one-off gain in 2022, the Ayala-led company saw its net income decline by 29 percent to P24.58 billion the following year, which was also due to higher depreciation expenses.