Cebu-based schoolteacher Michelle Caintic said their connectivity helped them perform their duties and responsibilities efficiently.

PLDT Home added new fiber customers faster than other providers in the first half of the year, outpacing its nearest competitor by 30%, sustaining its lead in the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) space.

With 1.8 million PLDT fiber subscribers as of end-June, almost six out of every 10 fibered up homes in the Philippines are with PLDT, including the household of married couple Mark and Michelle Caintic, both schoolteachers in Cebu.

Mark Caintic shares that “the stable internet connection from PLDT helped our family to do our work and responsibilities in this time of pandemic. Especially, for us teachers that relied on internet for our online classes, online paper works, and webinars. Our kids are also dependent on the internet for their classes as none of them selected printed learning modality.”

Michelle also shares how internet connection has helped made work easier for them at the onset of the pandemic. “It’s like we’re having real classes, though it’s virtual but we make sure that we deliver the lessons well to our students. Yes, I can say that PLDT Home changed our lifestyle at this moment. With the current situation we’re facing right now, it really helps us perform our duties and responsibilities efficiently,” she added.

The on-going pandemic has greatly impacted the demand for fiber connectivity across the country, as professionals, students, and more families need reliable internet at home for work, school, and entertainment.

“To support the increasing connectivity requirements of the market, we have been investing more on network bandwidth capacity to serve our fellow Filipinos. We have fast-tracked our rollout of additional Fiber-to-the-Home ports as we continue to provide the most extensive fiber infrastructure in the country,” said PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio.

PLDT has set the standard for fast internet speeds in the Philippines with its consistent wins as the fastest fixed network at the Ookla Speedtest AwardsTM by recording the highest Speed Score™, compared to other telcos in the country. Last year, PLDT achieved the highest Speed Score™ of 24.79 and 27.28 in the 1st and 2nd half of the year.

“We ramped up our fiber installation capabilities despite the restrictions brought about by the pandemic because we understand how important connectivity is now more than ever. This allowed us to champion fiber deployment in the country, and deliver exceptional customer experience to all Filipinos,” Panlilio added.

PLDT Home is on track to connect 1 million new FTTH customers by the end of the year. Powering the growth is the continued expansive fiber network rollout, improved install capacity, innovative product offers, aggressive marketing campaigns, and targeted loyalty campaigns.