PLDT, Smart speed up network modernization

Telecoms leader Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications have accelerated their combined network modernization program and expect to substantially complete its implementation this year. Launched in early 2011, PLDT’s P67.1-billion network upgrade program was originally designed to take three years. PLDT officials said that they aim to transform their fixed and mobile infrastructure into robust high-speed and high-capacity networks within 2012. “We’ve fast-tracked our program in anticipation of growing demand from businesses and consumers for improved broadband services as well as stiffer competition from other service providers,” PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said. 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. In late 2011, for example, PLDT introduced its commercial fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service in selected residential areas in Metro Manila, offering unmatched speeds of up to 100 mbps. This is being done side by side PLDT’s continuing shift of its legacy landline system, the most extensive in the country, to all-IP Next Generation Network technologies, PLDT technology head Rolando Pena said. Meanwhile, by end-2011, Smart had fired up over 1,400 Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) base stations all over the country which, when combined with its over 3,000 HSPA base stations, make up the country’s most pervasive high-speed mobile broadband network in the country. At the same time, Smart continued its test deployments for its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or Fourth Generation (4G) mobile network in Metro Manila and other key urban centers of the country. Smart’s enhancement of its mobile broadband networks is being complemented by its extensive fixed wireless broadband network using WiMax, WiFi and Canopy technologies. In December, 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. This would make broadband services much more accessible because of the pervasiveness of WiFi-enabled smart phones, tablets and notebooks, according to Orlando Vea, Smart’s chief wireless adviser and president and CEO of Digital Telecommunications Inc. The group noted that for Filipino consumers, the shift to the Internet was most evident in the way that web-enabled smart phones and tablets have captured the imagination of the public. The much-anticipated launch of Apple’s hugely successful iPhone 4S in the country in December had been preceded by the introduction of other popular devices such as Apple’s iPad2, Samsung’s 8.9 and 10.1” tablets, Blackberry Bold, Nokia E7, Sony Ericsson Xperia, HTC Sensation and Samsung Note. “As smart phones become more pervasive, more affordable and easier to use, more Filipinos are able to access the Internet and social media,” Vea said. “Mobile connectivity has gone beyond being able to just call and text. Filipinos are mobile and social at the same time. With social media penetration rate at 95 percent, virtually every Filipino that has access to the Web is on Facebook too,” he added. With smart phones accounting for less than 10 percent of the total handset population, there is plenty of head room for future growth. To help speed up the shift to smart phones, Smart introduced its “Netphone” coupled with its cloud-based service platform “SmartNet”. Affordably priced, the two initial Netphone models offered by Smart also offered SmartNet’s built-in suite of free-of-charge, always-on social networking and messaging apps. “Through the Netphone and SmartNet, we are making it possible for people to enjoy affordable, bite-size access to relevant Internet services like social media. In this way, we hope to push Internet usage beyond current limits and make these services available to much broader market,” Vea said. The introduction of new devices is being supported by new service access packages that provide subscribers a wide range of choices and price points, depending on their needs or preferences. These access packages can be time-based, volume-based or unlimited. PLDT officials stress that the foundation of all these efforts to promote ‘Internet for All’ is network modernization. This entails improving not only network access but also backbone transmission, international bandwidth and backroom processing and intelligence. “We’ve started work on our third international cable landing station in Daet, Camarines Sur, which will make our international connections more resilient and secure. That is vital considering that up to 80 percent of our Internet traffic goes to the United States and back,” Pena said. “By end-2011, we have about 45,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables in our network, providing not only backbone transmission linkages nationwide, but also linking our cell sites to base station controllers and to our mobile switches. Fiber will give us much greater capacity and reliability,” he added. “Clearly, we have built the most advanced network in the country. This translates to an enhanced experience and mobile lifestyle for Smart subscribers, and this is especially so for mobile Internet users,” Vea said. “To us, the key is to expand the array of options and deliver as many access points to our subscribers as possible, at costs that are within their means, regardless of the device that they have in their hands or in their homes, schools and offices. Whoever you are and however you use the Internet, PLDT and Smart make it easier for you,” he added.