PLDT to put up 8th data center in N Luzon next year

MANILA, Philippines - Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is putting up another data center in Northern Luzon to beef up the capacity of its data facilities by as much as 250 percent.

PLDT executive vice president Eric Alberto said the company is looking at putting up its eight data center in the Philippines somewhere in Northern Luzon early next year.

Alberto said the construction of the seventh data center in Makati would be completed within the year.

This would raise the rack capacity of the PLDT Group to 6,800 by the end of the year.

 “We are now building our seventh and we are looking for our eight data center. It will be outside Metro Manila in a very secure and investment-friendly area,” he said.

The data centers offer colocation, server hosting or outsourcing, disaster recovery, connectivity, security, and mitigation services.

The PLDT Group has raised its budget for capital expenditures this year by 12 percent in anticipation of higher data usage amid increasing smart phone ownership.

The company is spending P39 billion for its capital expenditures this year or 23 percent of revenues this year to activate more 3G base stations and at the same time expand its Time Division – Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) and Frequency Division – LTE (FD-LTE).

PLDT’s actual capital expenditures last year rose to P34.8 billion or 21 percent of service revenues to enhance data and broadband businesses.

The amount was used to enhance its network through the roll-out and activation of more 3G base stations and the expansion of its 4G footprint as well as the increase in its fiber footprint at over 98,000 kilometers and fiber-to-the-home network to approximately 300,000 lines.

The capex was also used to modernize and fortify the fixed line network of PLDT through the complete migration of legacy lines to next generation network lines and the burying of overhead or aerial cable to underground conduit system.

PLDT is finalizing loan agreements amounting to $500 million with the Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd as well as Mizuho Bank Ltd.