PLDT Intimidated by PH Govt-Facebook Internet Project, to Expand International Cable System Capacity

Telecoms and digital services provider PLDT Inc. this Thursday, November 16, announced the expansion of their international cable system capacity. This will compete with the upcoming Strategic Engagement and Collaboration to Undertake a Reliable and Efficient Government Internet (SECURE GovNet) project of the Philippine government.



“The build-up of our international cable system capacity is in step with the ongoing expansion of our domestic fiber transmission network. These two efforts support both our fiber to the home last-mile access and our mobile data networks.” Mario G. Tamayo, PLDT and Smart SVP and Head of Network Planning and Engineering said in a statement.

“As a result, we will be progressively able to provide higher levels of internet service to more areas of the country,” Tamayo added, with PLDT promising a 4.497 Terabits per second (Tbps) of the total capacity of its international submarine cable links by the end of 2017 (or 140% increase in capacity from end-2015), and 8.413 Tbps by the end of 2019.

In addition, PLDT said it will further boost its capacity in the new Trans-Pacific cable system called “Jupiter.” This P7-billion investment, which is set for completion in early 2020, aims to deliver a capacity of more than 60 Tbps from the Philippines directly to the United States and Japan, and shall address the growing need for overseas data connectivity.

Incidentally, PLDT’s announcement comes a day after the Duterte government signed a deal with Facebook for the SECURE GovNet, which aims to build the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure, an ultra high-speed information highway that will greatly improve the speed, affordability, and accessibility of broadband internet across the country.

The said deal was signed by Facebook, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), along with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). According to DICT Officer-in-Charge/Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr., the project consists of two cable landing stations connected by a 250-km long cable network corridor.



Rio added that Luzon Bypass Infrastructure shall have a 2-million Mbps (or 2-terabyte per second) capacity, which is almost equal to the current combined capacity of Globe and Smart-PLDT. And once the project has been complete, Rio noted that the Philippine government is expected to be virtually a third player in the telecommunications industry.

Contributed by Renato Pasayao