PLDT is on its way to a record-breaking one million new Fiber customer connects for 2021 as it reported over 478,000 net new Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) customers for the first half of the year.
PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan re-affirmed the Company’s unwavering commitment to serving the evolving digital lifestyles of individuals, families and businesses, enabling the nation’s economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession.
“We must stay keenly focused on serving our customers, especially during this crisis— keeping families connected, entertained, and educated; enabling businesses to operate at home or in the office; ensuring healthcare delivery to those who need it—and simply being a source of strength amidst extraordinary adversity and affliction,” said Pangilinan.
PLDT's accelerated fiber installation capacity and copper migration drove fiber revenues up by Php 6 billion to Php 14.1 billion for the first half of 2021 from Php 8.1 billion in the first semester of the prior year. PLDT's total home business reported record growth for the first half of the year increasing by Php 4.2 billion, to Php 22.7 billion.
Since the pandemic, PLDT has fast-tracked the roll out of its FTTH facilities which has increased to cover over 11.3 million homes passed or nearly 3 million more than the competing fiber broadband operator. PLDT has over 4.8 million fiber-powered ports ready to serve the connectivity requirements of residential customers nationwide.
PLDT’s ramped up installation capacity is also augmented by another 21,000 migrated lines during the second quarter as a total of 155,000 copper-line customers have been migrated to fiber as of end-July. To build on these gains, PLDT Home aims to cover 66% of the country with fiber by year-end as it fast-tracks fiber installations and upgrade capabilities.
This is on the back of PLDT’s continuous investments in its massive fiber infrastructure that now extends to 524,000 kilometers to date, a 22% jump in added coverage and redundancies from the end of last year.
“We will continue to ramp up our capacity to install as demand remains high. We want to make sure that we are able to serve most, if not all, Filipinos, especially that PLDT Home is advocating brand affinity to customers through relevant content offers,” said PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio during PLDT’s 2021 First Half Financial and Operating Results briefing.
“We see the change in customer behavior due to the pandemic, and a lot of our mobile customers who are now staying at home are utilizing their fiber-line connectivity. I think this will be the case for most Filipinos as this crisis continues for the rest of the year and until vaccination has been fully implemented,” he added.
PLDT Chief Financial Officer Anabelle L. Chua also highlighted the benefit of PLDT’s integrated services to deliver connectivity both on fixed and wireless.
“The behavior today is such that most of us are relegated at home so the whole broadband service is of paramount importance to those who are working from home or studying from home. Mobility service is taking a little bit of a backseat because of the fact that there is limited mobility but we know that this will turn around. The beauty of PLDT is that we are on both sides of the equation - we have the benefit of being able to serve the needs of our customers whether they're at home or out-of-home,” said Chua.
PLDT, through its Home business, has provided the essential services for Filipinos in coping and thriving with the challenges of the pandemic. It has relentlessly enabled more homes and businesses to continue surviving through its delivery of fiber connectivity to residences enabling work-from-home and study-from-home set ups. PLDT’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.
