Meralco starts shift as broadband provider

Slowly and quietly expanding in the telecom space, utility firm Meralco is beginning to develop its goal of providing broadband Internet services through power lines. Meralco, currently chaired by telecom mogul Manny V. Pangilinan, recently picked an Indian firm’s high-end optical transport (MSPP) solution to run the power distributor’s network backbone across Manila to provide telecom services. Tejas Networks, a technology company based in Bangalore, said in a statement that all of Meralco’s traffic – data and voice — will run on its optical transport equipment. The Indian company did not reveal the amount of the contract it got from the electric services distributor. At present, Meralco provides electricity services to Metro Manila, which is home to a quarter of the local population of 94 million. However, with Pangilinan now at the helm, the company is now starting to expand to broadband Internet services which it plans to deliver via power lines. Sanjay Nayak, CEO and managing director of Tejas Networks, said in a statement that its network expertise, which was honed in India, is relevant to telecom markets around the world, particularly, the South East Asian telecom market. “We have provided solutions to over 30 customers across the region and have offices in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. We look forward to providing scalable and future ready solutions to Meralco in the Philippines,” said Nayak. Meralco telecommunications head Antolin Habana, on the other hand, said the telecom solutions of Tejas will allow the power firm to scale up its offerings by saving on capital expenditure and operating expenditure. “Tejas Networks’ impressive MSPP portfolio and their expertise in engaging with customers is a strategic fit to Meralco’s expansion plans,” Habana stated.