Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is spending an additional PHP560 million (USD13.5 million) to triple the capacity of its internet gateway. Having already completed a major PHP67.1 billion modernisation programme, Rolando Pena, head of the technology group of PLDT-Smart Communications, confirmed that the additional investment is designed to cater for an anticipated rise in broadband subscribers in the next few years, as well as increased demand for data usage stemming from the deployment of Smart’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and the fibre-to-the home (FTTH) technology being rolled out by PLDT. In the first phase, PLDT will invest PHP205 million to up the group’s international gateway capacity to 600Gbps, effectively doubling its current capacity by the end of the year. Pena added that upon completion in the third quarter of 2013, PLDT’s total internet gateway capacity will be ‘close to the terabit mark’.
Last month, PLDT announced the successful completion of its ambitious network upgrade and modernisation programme, which has increased total fibre in the system to 48,000km, with an additional 6,000km of FTTH further expanding to its LTE sites.