Telecom giant rolls out P700M project in Bohol

TAGBILARAN City, Bohol, Philippines — Telecom firm Philippine Long Distance Company rolled out a P700 million domestic fiber optic network  project in Bohol to help the earthquake-stricken province achieve full recovery.

This huge infrastructure expenditure, which will be completed in two to three years, will enable the island-province to host big ticket business process outsourcing operations, with the capability of 40 gigabytes speed which is estimated to accomodate160 thousand call center seats, and 41 million point-of-sales and 5.1 million ATM transactions.

Prior to the establishment of the DFON project, Bohol's internet connection was riding on digital microwave radio, which can only accommodate a limited bandwidth.

"By turning on our fiber optic network this time, we hope to help accelerate Bohol's recovery from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit the province in October last year," said PLDT and Smart Communications president and chief executive officer  Napoleon L. Nazareno during the formal inauguration of the DFON project held at Bohol Cultural Center in Tagbilaran City, which was also held in time for the 160th foundation of Bohol.

The project, which started its initial deployment days before the October 15 earthquake last year, resumed the works in November, and now it has already capacitated major areas in the province with fiber optic facility, together with installations of seven Fiber-To-The-Home  sites, eight LTE (long term evolution), 37 sites for DSL broadband, and 100 percent 3G mobile connection.

"Our plan is to enable the entire province with fiber optic connection, within two to three years time," said Arvin Siena, head for network planning and engineering group—PLDT and Smart.

Consisting of 328 kilometers of inland and submarine fiber optic cables running from Cebu to Bohol to Cagayan de Oro, this new fiber facility is expected to strengthen the efforts of the provincial government here headed by Gov. Edgar Chato to attract more outsourcing companies to set up in Bohol.

The BPO industry is now starting to move in the suburban areas in the Philippines, as the major cities like Cebu and Manila are almost in the saturation level.

In 2012, the provincial capital city Tagbilaran was identified as a "Next Wave City" for the ICT-BPO industry by the Information and Business Process Association of the Philippines.

Enabling Bohol with the fastest connectivity infrastructure is likewise expected to boost its dynamic tourism sector, as it will deliver high-speed internet through direct fiber links to establishments in tourist centers like Panglao island.

"High-speed internet will enable enterprises engaged in tourism to run their operations more efficiently and effectively. At the same time, this will help these enterprises offer better value to their customers, who have come to expect easy access to the Internet as part of an enjoyable vacation experience," said PLDT executive vice president and head of Enterprise and International and Carrier Business Eric R. Alberto.

Of the estimated 1.3 million population in Bohol, PLDT and Smart captured 5,000 household with DSL connection subscribers and 600,000 mobile users.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) regional director Asteria Caberte said in an interview that there are already interested BPO companies that expressed interest to locate in Bohol.

Boholano capitalists on the other hand, have drawnout plans for development of cyber-buildings and cyberparks, as the provincial government has also identified areas for possible IT Park locations.

"This development [DFON installation] means jobs for Bohol," said Caberte. (FREEMAN)