PLDT to fire up 1,000 TD-LTE sites for faster Internet link

MANILA, Philippines - Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is looking at increasing the number of base stations to 1,000 within the year to expand the reach of its ultra-fast wireless Internet services.

Dominador Perez Jr., head of network infrastructure build of PLDT and Smart Communications Inc., said the company is beefing up its existing 228 base stations this year.

Perez said the 228 sites were established within a period of just three months as part of the aggressive P2 billion roll out to lay the foundation for the launch of PLDT HOME Bro Ultera.

The PLDT HOME Bro Ultera that was launched yesterday is a Time-Division Duplex Long-Term Evolution (TD-LTE)-powered ultra-fast wireless internet for the home.

The product is the country’s first foray in TD-LTE technology that uses a dedicated network with an allocated bandwidth apart from the one used by mobile phones or pocket Wifi modems.

Industry data shows that the Philippines’ TD-LTE network is one of the largest in Asia Pacific with over 228 base stations. PLDT HOME’s expansion has allowed the telecommunications leader to reach into more areas while applying new technologies that provide better service, and allow Ultera to deliver unbridled Internet connections.

Perez said the amount of investments for the expansion program is still being finalized.

“It is part of the plan and we will see how much we can earmark,” he said.

PLDT assistant vice president and head of PLDT Home Fixed Wireless Solutions Ava Espanola said additional TD-LTE sites would be established in other remote areas to further improve coverage.

Espanola said there are 228 pilot sites nationwide particularly in rural areas where Internet infrastructure are not as developed.

She pointed out that about 39 percent of the total number of sites are located in South Luzon, 32 percent are in North Luzon, 11 percent in Metro Manila, 10 percent in Mindanao, and nine percent in the Visayas.

“We hope to blanket the entire country soon,” she added.

In terms of the number of subscribers, Espanola said the company is initially looking at 30,000 subscribers for the PLDT HOME Bro Ultera this year. The Group has a total subscriber base of 450,000.

The service is being rolled out in Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bataan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Aurora, Cagayan, Abra, and Nueva Vizcaya in Northern and Central Luzon; Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Quezon, Sorsogon, and Palawan in Southern Luzon; Aklan, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bukidnon, and Leyte in the Visayas; and Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, and Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao.

Ariel Fermin, PLDT executive vice president and head of PLDT HOME business, said in a press conference that the telecom giant continues to enhance its PLDT HOME Fibr and PLDT HOME DSL with the addition of PLDT HOME Bro Ultera to the PLDT HOME roster of services.

“Our aggressive fiber expansion is what allows us to adopt new technologies such as TD-LTE for PLDT HOME Bro Ultera. PLDT’s extensive fiber network, which stands at 78,000 kilometers, remains unmatched,” Fermin said.