PLDT gets nod of NTC for cable landing sites

PLDt inc. said on Wednesday it has secured the provisional authority from the National te lecommunications Commission (N tC) for the construction of two new cable landing stations in the country.

t he stations will host the Apricot Cable System, the newest intra-Asia submarine cable strategically facing the Pacific side of the Philippines. t hey will be located in ba ler, Aurora and Digos, Davao.

“ t he Apricot Cable System’s route ensures a significantly higher degree of resilience. When our ba ler and Davao cable landing stations are completed, PLDt will have alternate sites facing the Pacific, making it easier to hook up to data offices in the United States,” said PLDt and Smart President and CEo Alfredo S. Panlilio.

Apricot will provide telco carriers new a lternate routes which do not traverse the usual West Philippine Sea waters. Likewise, the cable landing stations, slated for completion by early 2025, aims to fortify PLD t s international cable network to deliver higher speeds, lower latency connectivity in and out of the Philippines, and add resiliency to its existing landing stations in batangas, La Union, and Daet.

With this development, PLD t will have a total international capacity of more than 140t bps once fully equipped. t he 12,000-kilometerlong cable system will connect the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, indonesia, ta iwan, and Guam. t he company’s total fiber footprint has reached 1.1 million kilometers as of March 2023, covering 231,000 kilometers of international fiber and over 874,000 kilometers of domestic fiber. in March, the telco giant reported that it saw its profits plunge by 60 percent to P10.49 billion in 2022 from P26.37 billion the year prior, due to the “accelerated depreciation” that it booked last year, referring to the capital expenditures issue. its telco core income, meanwhile, was 10 percent higher to P33.12 billion from P30.23 billion the year prior, as the company recorded a 6-percent rise in total revenues to P205.25 billion from P193.26 billion.

“As we help position the Philippines as the new hyperscaler destination and major transit hub in Asia, we continue to upgrade and build on the foundations of PLDt s global network infrastructure. t hese investments enable us to provide superior digital services to our consumer and enterprise customers, deliver newer technologies with our 4G, & 5G capabilities, and add value for attracting hyperscalers and investors to expand their cloud in the country,” Panlilio added.

Lorenz S. Marasigan