PLDT, MCI sign pact to offer customers better services

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and leading global communications provider MCI recently signed an agreement that enables both providers to offer more customers superior Internet Protocol-based network services through advanced Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology.

The MCI-PLDT agreement establishes a node that links PLDT’s national MPLS network with the MCI global private IP network – which offers customers direct access through MCI-owned MPLS nodes in 105 cities across 41 countries in Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. MCI also offers indirect access to its private IP network through frame relay and ATM points-of-presence (PoPs) in more than 90 countries around the world.

PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said the MCI-PLDT MPLS node is strategically located at the Vitro Data Center of PLDT’s subsidiary, ePLDT.

"This strategic relationship between PLDT and MCI now allows both providers to offer their portfolios of managed global networking services to more customers in our respective markets," he said.

With PLDT’s extensive local network, MCI’s global reach and the use of the latest technologies, Philippine companies and the local offices of multinational corporations can now benefit from the flexibility of secure, reliable, high-speed, any-to-any communications solutions. MCI today has more than 158 company-owned and operated MPLS nodes connecting businesses worldwide. The Philippines, through PLDT, is now a part of this IP-driven MPLS network.

"With our many years of experience in delivering managed networking services, we believe that PLDT is now, through this partnership with MCI, in a prime position to take it to the next level. We are now working in close partnership with a global network service provider with unparalleled depth of experience in IP technology. This relationship opens up new opportunities for both PLDT and MCI," according to PLDT Corporate Business Group head Eric R. Alberto.

For his part, MCI International and Wholesale acting president Dan Crawford said MCI’s relationship with PLDT is mutually beneficial "and enables each company to extend the reach of our MPLS networks and our managed network solutions quickly and efficiently."