The country’s largest, fully integrated telco PLDT is ramping up its efforts to upgrade more customers from copper connection to fiber, which provides the fastest and most reliable internet service, fast-tracking the rollout of what is the most extensive network infrastructure in the Philippines.
Under a special “Fiber Barangay” program it started just in April this year, and despite the mobility restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic, PLDT has so far fully migrated 31 barangays across the country from copper to fiber, providing resilient digital connectivity and superior customer experience.
Barangays in Baguio, Bicol, Bulacan, Cagayan, GenSan, Ilocos, Negros, North Manila, South Manila, and Quezon are now fully migrated to fiber, the most reliable and fastest internet connectivity by far.
“Our investment in fiber is crucial and continuous,” said PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio. “It supports our increasingly connected societies especially in the new normal where the digital lifestyle is powered by connectivity – supporting our livelihood, education, daily transactions, entertainment and socio-economic responsibilities,” he added.
“Complementing our fiber expansion is the ramp up of our fiber installation and repair capabilities despite the restrictions brought about by the pandemic,” Panlilio added. “We are gunning to cover 66% of the country by yearend.”
As of June 20, 2021, PLDT has migrated more than 123,000 copper-based subscribers to fiber, enabling them to access high-speed internet for their connectivity requirements in the new normal.
As PLDT migrates more customers to fiber, it's also carrying out a massive cleanup drive nationwide, recovering copper cables no longer needed, promoting safety in the community.
PLDT’s clean-up drive, which consists of preventive maintenance activities, complies with congressional bills as well as resolutions and ordinances from local government units, requiring utility companies to tidy up the country’s streets of sagging cables and tilting poles.
PLDT’s fiber optic network is the most extensive in the country at over 478,000 kilometers as of end-March 2021. The drive to upgrade communities from copper to fiber is part of a broad effort to expand this fiber network, which is key to ensuring excellent experience among PLDT and Smart customers, as fiber also supports 4G/LTE and increasingly 5G, and carrier-grade WiFi.
PLDT and Smart’s relentless push to provide connectivity for all is aligned with the group’s long-standing commitment to help the Philippines attain the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG #9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.
