PH Telco Companies Upgrade To Improve Internet Services

As Starlink launches in the Philippines, broadband providers PLDT Inc. and Converge ICT Solutions Inc. improve their underwater cable systems to improve internet services.

Converge announced that it started the construction of the cable landing station of the Bifrost Cable System in Davao City.

The facility measures 745 sqm owned and operated by Converge. It will also function as the Philippine gateway for Bifrost, an international cable system that would run from Singapore to North America that has the potential to turn the country into a digital hub in Asia.

Converge chief operations officer Jesus Romero said the company hopes to boost its international capacity to facilitate data exchange and reach subscribers abroad through Bifrost.

“This will not only boost the company’s international bandwidth capacity, but for the Philippines, it will mean redundancy and diversity in network infrastructure,” Romero said.

Meanwhile, PLDT announced plans to invest in new cable systems in the next five years to hit petabit levels in terms of international capacity.

PLDT has plans to partner with tech giants like Meta to establish data facilities in the Philippines. To accomplish this, the telco would have to raise its international capacity as a backbone for the data requirements needed by these tech investors.

PLDT expects its data capacity to surpass 100 terabits per second with the Asia Direct Cable, an international cable system from East and Southeast Asia, to be completed by the end of this year. The telco will also build the $80 million Apricot Cable System that would add 35 terabits per second by 2025.

PLDT will also expand its data centers and fiber footprint, which currently runs to more than 1.09 kilometers, to strengthen its infrastructure network.

Source: Philstar