Leading integrated telco company PLDT, Inc. (PLDT) and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) are urging their customers nationwide to stay vigilant against illegal activities that lead to interruption in their internet connection, such as deliberate cable cutting and inflicting damage to network equipment.

This comes in the wake of an incident in Laguna where a group of men intentionally cut and damaged PLDT fiber optic cables, disrupting the delivery of PLDT services in the area, and also of persistent reports nationwide of sabotage of PLDT fiber optic cables, causing outages and hardship to subscribers.

"PLDT and Smart are working closely with local government units and our local authorities to ensure the safety and security of our network equipment, which are vital to the unhampered delivery of our fiber-to-the-home, LTE and 5G services to our customers," said Roderick S. Santiago, PLDT Network Head.

"We also encourage our customers to help us by reporting similar activities in their respective areas and barangays. Together, we can ensure that our communities can stay safe and connected," he added. 

Customers can report such incidents to PLDT's Asset Protection team via Hotline 164 (just dial 164) from their PLDT landline or Smart mobile.

In addition to disasters and calamities, construction works, and power and equipment outages, illegal activities by unscrupulous individuals also cause fiber cuts, leading to widespread service interruptions.  According to PLDT, more than 200 incidents in relation to similar activities have cost the company millions in network restoration costs and inconvenient downtime to many customers.

PLDT operates the country's most extensive fiber infrastructure, which was at 803,000 kilometers as of end-March 2022. This fiber infrastructure also supports Smart's mobile network, which had 76,600 total base stations nationwide, providing 3G, 4G/LTE and 5G to customers from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi.

The PLDT Group continues to invest in its network, having spent ₱518.5 billion for the last 10 years up to 2021.  Network-related initiatives made up the bulk of the ₱89 billion spend for 2021.  Capex guidance for 2022 is ₱85 billion.