PHOTO: PLDT Enterprise Corporate Relationship Management Advisor Victor Aliwalas during the annual Submarine Networks World event

Manila, Philippines [28 October 2021]—PLDT Enterprise highlighted the importance of nurturing mission-critical infrastructure to bolster the country’s bid to be the next digital hub in the Asia Pacific region during the recent Annual Submarine Networks World Event.

Victor Aliwalas, PLDT Enterprise Corporate Relationship Management Advisor, said that the PLDT Group has been exhausting its capabilities to fortify the Philippines’ global connectivity infrastructure as the next tech giants’ preferred geographic destination in APAC.

“In terms of hyperscalers digital infrastructure, PLDT is the country’s leading fully integrated telco and ICT provider. We are maintaining this accolade by continuous investments and CAPEX spend going back into our infrastructure. We are spending anywhere from P88-92 billion this 2021,” said Aliwalas.

The PLDT Enterprise advisor exhibited PLDT Group’s subsea cable investments, which paved the path for the domination of PLDT in domestic fixed and mobile connectivity services.

PLDT’s current international cable network comprises 14 global subsea cable systems, with additional subsea cables expected to be operational by the end of this year to 2022 such as Asia Direct Cable, Jupiter, and Apricot. Moreover, PLDT also has three existing cable landing stations across the Philippines situated in Batangas, La Union, and Daet, with two more expected to be built in Baler and Davao over the next few months.

“The new cable systems will not only provide increased capacity going to business-relevant markets. It also adds strategic diversity options out of multiple international cable system routes,” Aliwalas shared.

Aside from PLDT’s subsea cable investments, Aliwalas noted that they are continuously improving their wireless services through the launch of commercial mobile 5G last July this year which now has over 5,000 5G sites to provide the best internet experience to customers.

He added that the rollout of 5G networks in the country is expected to fuel the demand for data centers as 5G delivers denser and faster streams of data, making data centers the core of enabling 5G applications in the future.

“We will continue to fortify our colocation footprint across the archipelago, our international connectivity via cable landing stations and undersea cable systems, as well as our last mile capabilities and beefing up our domestic fiber optic cable capabilities nationwide.”

The country’s largest fully integrated telecommunications provider owns a network of 10 globally certified VITRO data centers, strategically located across the country with 17,300 square meters of rack space and the greatest number of TIA-942 Rated sites in the country.

“Even with the most expansive network for both Fixed and Wireless, the measure of success for us is not on the overall lead in footprint, but in the actual customer experience. Our benchmark is not the internet speeds locally, but always use the global standard as a metric for us not only to improve the network experience for PLDT but for the Philippines as a whole,” Aliwalas underscored.