The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) group is on the final stretch of its fast-tracked, nationwide P67.1-billion network transformation program.
This was revealed at the sidelines of a courtesy call paid yesterday by Eric Xu, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Huawei, a leading global provider of commercial telecom networks, to Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT and wireless unit Smart Communications Inc.
Huawei is one of the telco’s partners in the network initiative, and the courtesy call included a review of the program’s progress.
“While the rest of the industry is just about to lay the groundwork, we’ve already passed the halfway mark of this landmark network undertaking,” said Orlando B. Vea, co-founder and Smart chief wireless advisor.
Originally scheduled to run for three years after its launch in early 2011, the program is scheduled for completion by the middle of this year—taking only a total of a year and a half.
“Most important, our subscribers have already been enjoying the fruits of this endeavor, including superior voice connection and quality, quicker SMS delivery, enhanced data connection speeds, nationwide cove age, and zero downtime, especially in times of disasters,” Vea said.
Once completed, the program is expected to benefit close to 50 million Smart subscribers all over the country, by further enhancing the reliability and quality of its wireless services, including SMS, call, and data services, and Internet access to even the most remote barrios and barangays.
To date, PLDT and Smart have modernized and optimized the network covering the entire Visayas and Mindanao areas, and Bicol in Luzon, with the rest of the country to follow soon.
Aside from Huawei, PLDT and Smart are also working with Ericson and Nokia Siemens Network on the program.
“By tapping the individual strengths of the world’s three biggest network suppliers, we are able to ensure the efficient and timely progress of this initiative,” Vea said.
Once fully completed, PLDT and Smart also expect the transformation program to allow it to reach “blackout areas,” or places that used to have no broadband Internet access thus enabling Internet penetration to even the most remote areas of the country.
