PLDT's fiber optic network project to give edge to Cebu

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu gets another boost in its bid to attract big outsourcing investments following the completion of the P2.8 billion expansion of the Domestic Fiber Optic Network (DFON) of the Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT).

"Anything that will be give more capacity and security to telecommunication infrastruc-ture will give Cebu an edge over other emerged BPO destinations in the world," said Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari S. Yu.

PLDT yesterday formally announced the completion of the two-year DFON project which covers the third leg of DFON Loop 4 from Lucena to Cebu City, passing through 11 provinces.

"Our transmission backbone is now much more resilient, thus raising the quality and reli-ability of our services. We can also provide more communities with both basic and ad-vanced broadband services, unlocking new economic opportunities for central and South-ern Philippines," said PLDT president and chief executive officer (CEO) Napoleon L. Nazareno.

While this development will boost primarily the BPO industry in Cebu, Yu hopes that this will also bring in lowest cost of the telecommunication services that will not be de-pendent on provider-based price but on market-based pricing.

The project, which is part of the company's DFON Resiliency Improvement Program, involved the installation of 1,300 kilometers of new terrestrial and submarine fiber optic cables to carry voice, data and video traffic in Bicol and the Visayas and Mindanao re-gions.

The completion of the DFON Loop 4-Third Leg has added 1,300 kilometers of terrestrial and submarine fiber optic cables to PLDT DFON, bringing the total to 10,050 kilometers connecting 68 nodes and equipped with a total network bandwidth capacity of 1.56 Tera-bytes, or capability of accommodating a total of 24 million simultaneous voice calls or additional capacity of four million DSL connection.

In the past, accidental cable cuts have caused slowdowns in bandwidth speeds and even outages for some retail and corporate customers, especially the BPO sector, in the af-fected areas.

Natural disasters have also adversely affected the network, hampering vital communica-tions to a certain extent.

This latest DFON expansion will reduce the risk of downtimes which will benefit not only large corporations but also the small businesses and households, said Rolando G. Peña, PLDT Group Head for Customer Service Assurance, in a video-conference simul-taneous held in Makati, and in Cebu.

The new facilities are equipped with the latest Automatic Switching Optical Network-Sub Network Control Protocol (ASON-SNCP) technology which will facilitate the auto-matic rerouting of traffic in the event of cable cuts to ensure seamless, un-interrupted telecommunications services.

Among the main beneficiaries will be the call centers and other BPO companies that have high-bandwidth requirements and that need resilient telecommunications network.

According to Yu, with the stiff competition now in attracting big employers in the BPO sector, Cebu should emphasized its capacity and security in the telecommunication infra-structure.

Fiber optic is a glass that acts as a pipe to transmit light between two ends. It consists of a transparent core and a cladding protection at low reflection index.

By investing in redundant facilities through the loops in DFON and various legs within the loops, PLDT improves its ability to offer the levels of resiliency that industries like banks, BPO and call centers require. (FREEMAN)