By Francis Earl Cueto
TO boost their connection and communications in the Visayas Region, PLDT “fibered up” by laying down their submarine cables along the Bantayan and Camotes islands.
In a statement, PLDT said they recently held a cable landing ceremony at the municipality of Santa Fe on Bantayan Island.
This was attended by local leaders, representatives from PLDT, Smart and FiberHome.
“With PLDT fiber on the island, residents and tourists may now look forward to enhanced connectivity,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the residents and tourists visiting the islands of Bantayan and Camotes in Cebu can expect enhanced connectivity as PLDT Inc. said that they will continue deploying submarine fiber cable links across the country to elevate customer experience.
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“On behalf of the local government of Santa Fe, we would like to extend our gratitude to PLDT for making this happen. PLDT fiber will encourage more investors on the island. We hope that this will be the solution to the many challenges that we are facing,” said Santa Fe Mayor Ithamar Espinosa.
Also gracing the event were Bantayan Mayor Arthur Despi; Renato Bajalla, barangay captain of Poblacion; and Siegfred Cataluña, municipal administrator of Santa Fe.
The cable connects Bantayan Island to Daanbantayan, also in Cebu, which is one of PLDT’s gateways to Luzon. In May, a submarine cable was also laid in Barangay Kabac, connecting the island to Bacolod City.
This continuous expansion of PLDT’s nationwide fiber infrastructure also includes the recent submarine cable landing at Camotes Island on June 19, which connects it to Mandaue City and Ormoc City.
The statement also said that the developments now enables PLDT to roll out fiber across the islands, providing fast and reliable fiber-powered services to individual customers, families and businesses. This will also allow Smart to level up its mobile services, particularly for LTE and 5G.
These submarine cable links also fortify existing fiber links and enhance the resiliency of PLDT’s network by providing alternate routes for data traffic, ensuring connectivity for customers.
PLDT said the project is part of their network-related initiatives that made up the bulk of the P89 billion(US$18.14million) spent for 2021.
This brings PLDT’s total capex (capital expenditure) spent over the last 10 years to P518.5 billion. Capex guidance for 2022 is at P85 billion.
As of end-March 2022, PLDT’s fiber infrastructure was at 803,000 kilometers. This also supports Smart’s mobile network, which has 76,600 total base stations nationwide, supporting its 3G, 4G/LTE and 5G customers from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi, including around 7,300 5G base stations.
