PLDT launches two-year, P1.8-billion FTTH installation program

PLDT has launched a two-year, P1.8 billion fixed-line network roll-out program that will deliver ultra-fast broadband connections to millions of customers via fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology. FTTH supports higher bandwidth and new services, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Video on Demand (VOD), and high-definition video streaming. Some 240,000 access ports will be installed, from which fiber links can be brought to a potential market of over two million homes by late 2013, according to PLDT-Smart Technology Group Head Rolando Peña. “We will thus be in a position to serve the varying needs of different customers – which can range from DSL service to ultra-high-speed fiber to the home,” he said. Almost 30,000 FTTH lines have already been laid, and the company expects the first phase of the program to be completed by the end of the year with 90,000 lines installed. The expansion of PLDT’s FTTH program will also make it easier for its wireless subsidiary, Smart Communications, Inc. to roll out nationwide its advanced mobile broadband service, Long Term Evolution (LTE), which is capable of very fast data connectivity. — BM, GMA News