With 400m submarine cables: PLDT links Bohol to Visayas and Mindanao network hubs

CEBU, Philippines - Leading telecoms company PLDT has completed the installation of over 150 kilometers of submarine fiber optic cables costing over P400 million that will link the island of Bohol with the major network centers in Visayas and Mindanao, providing a much needed boost to the earthquake-hit province.

PLDT President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said looping in Bohol island to the main network backbones in Cebu in the north and Cagayan de Oro in the south will support the fast growing tourism and BPO hubs as well as the thriving small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in central Philippines.

The north link stretches almost 53 kilometers from Mactan, Cebu to Loon, Bohol while the south portion runs over 97 kilometers from Garcia Hernandez, Bohol to Kinoguitan, Misamis Oriental. These links will be connected to PLDT’s domestic fiber optic network (DFON) via inland fiber optic cables to Jones, Cebu in the north and to Cagayan De Oro in southern Philippines.

Nazareno said the Bohol fiber optic cable project will also boost the existing 90-kilometer fiber network in Panglao Island and Tagbilaran City for their tourism and enterprise communications requirements including the ICT upgrade projects for the proposed international airport in Panglao.

“We are setting the groundwork in ‘future-proofing’ our transmission facilities and extending our fiber-reach in Central Visayas to better service the region’s industries,” said Nazareno.

According to PLDT Technology Group Head Rolando Pena, the Bohol DFON project creates a third leg within the Visayas and Mindanao loop that will assure bandwidth-heavy industries like the BPO and O&O industries in Bohol and Cagayan De Oro a more resilient network.

“The booming call center companies and SMEs are sure to benefit from these projects and will enable them to set up shop in Bohol because they can rely on robust data networks supporting heavy bandwidth applications,” said PLDT EVP and Head of Enterprise and International Carrier Business Eric R. Alberto.

The new fiber optic cable facilities will also allow PLDT provide fiber-to-the-home services and support the operations of its wireless subsidiaries Smart Communications and Sun Cellular, particularly in providing the ultra-fast LTE connection to their subscribers in the area.

PLDT’s current infrastructure in Bohol – which runs along Tagbilaran, Baclayon, and Dauis – already serves more than 500,000 wireless subscribers and about 2,000 fixed wireless broadband subscribers, with more than 4,000 fixed lines that could increase to more than 5,000 in 2014 after completion of the total expansion program. (FREEMAN)