Home Cable prepares to challenge SkyCable for leadership inMindanao

DAVAO CITY -- Home Cable Inc. is set to challenge the dominance of the Lopez-owned SkyVision (SkyCable) Inc. in delivering cable antenna television (CATV) service in Mindanao.

This developed as Infocom Technologies Inc. launched recently its Internet operations here despite the strong presence of SkyiNet and Mozcom.

Both Home and Infocom are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) which is positioning itself as a premiere provider of convergent technologies such as basic telephony, Internet, cable, fax, cellular, and data.

Rodolfo Belme, PLDT senior manager for the Davao metro exchange, said yesterday that a representative of Home has conducted a study on the possibilities of entering the area which is still largely untapped.

Belmes noted that although SkyCable has acquired practically all of the small cable operators in the region, it is only able to capture about 30 percent of the market due to infrastructure limitations.

According to him, SkyCable has limited outside plant facilities and could not expand easily even if it wants to.

On the other hand, Home can utilize PLDT's existing fiber optic network which provides accuracy and clarify necessary for the transmission of data.

"We believe that Home will be here soon because they no longer need to put up cables. We can provide them with the facilities so there will be very minimal investment on their part," he explained.

Home, Belmes added, is expected to roll-out in key cities of Mindanao although he declined to give any projections as the target subscriber base.

On the other hand, Belmes noted that even before Infocom decided to launch its services, it has already partnered with Gatesway Online, an information technology firm based here, to provide Internet access in the city and surrounding areas.

Gatesway Online is connected to the Internet via a 512 kilobit per second link to Infocom.

Infocom is currently one of the top five Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country with over 90,000 subscriber base, mostly located in Metro Manila.

The company is aggressively expanding in other markets to effectively complete with other ISPs.