Filipino telecoms giant PLDT Inc. is setting aside PHP2 billion (USD40.1 million) over a three-year period to install advanced hybrid fibre technologies that will deliver ultra-fast broadband using ‘regular’ phone lines in buildings and apartments. The telco said its decision follows successful trials of South Korean firm KT Corp’s proprietary ‘GiGa Wire’ technology, which utilises Gigabit Home Networking (G.hn) technology to deliver total bandwidth of approximately 600Mbps-700Mbps in its first iteration, and ‘G.fast’, which has been adopted by a number of telcos across the globe to boost peak speeds on a copper line to up to 1Gbps, depending on the length of the local loop.
‘This new initiative is part of our broad effort to make fibre-powered, high speed connectivity more widely available to the public. It’s part and parcel of building the ‘Gigabit Society’ – where high-bandwidth, low-latency digital services in homes, businesses, healthcare services, utilities and schools become an integral part of daily life,’ PLDT chairman and CEO Manuel Pangilinan said. Meanwhile, the group’s chief revenue officer Ernesto Alberto confirmed that in the initial phase PLDT will roll out GiGa Wire and G.fast solutions in more than 500 buildings in different parts of the country next year, split between both residential and office premises. Going forward, a further 1,600 buildings are targeted for coverage for 2018 and 2019.