PLDT, Smart rush network upgrade

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. have fast-tracked their P67.1-billion combined network modernization program, originally designed to take 3-years, and expect to complete it this year. The program was launched just last year. However, expecting stiffer competition as well as growing demand from businesses and consumers, the telcos are transforming their fixed and mobile infrastructure into robust high-speed and high-capacity networks within 2012, disclosed Napoleon L. Nazareno, PLDT president and CEO. “In fact, Phases I and II of the program was completed by end-2011 and the results are beginning to show in terms of new broadband products and services and improved network performance,” he added. Already, PLDT introduced its commercial fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service in selected residential areas in Metro Manila, offering speeds of up to 100 mbps late last year, Simultaneously, PLDT continued shifting from its legacy landline system, the most extensive in the country, to all-IP Next Generation Network technologies, noted PLDT technology head Rolando G. Pena. For its part, Smart had fired up over 1,400 Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) base stations all over the country by end-2011. Combined with its over 3,000 HSPA base stations, it made up the country’s most pervasive high-speed mobile broadband network. At the same time, Smart continued its test deployments its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or Fourth Generation (4G) mobile network in Metro Manila and other key urban centers nationwide. Smart’s enhancement of its mobile broadband networks is being complemented by its extensive fixed wireless broadband network using WiMax, WiFi and Canopy technologies. Last month, Smart announced that it would deploy “carrier-grade” WiFi internet access services not only in public buildings such as commercial centers but also in local neighborhoods.