Page 2 - NOVEMBER 2017 'A' ISSUE

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PLDT CONSUMER GROUP RAMPS
UP NETWORK INVESTMENTS,
UNVEILS P11-B MODERNIZATION
MANILA – Leading telecoms and
digital services provider PLDT is further
boosting investments in its fixed and
wireless networks to provide consumers
with the best data experience that
supports their increasingly digital
lifestyle.
“Our vision is to make high-speed
internet connectivity the standard
of every Filipino whether they are
at home or on the go. With reliable
and fast connectivity, PLDT is fully
committed to revolutionize the way
Filipinos experience and enjoy world-
class digital services and content on
their various screens – the television,
personal computers, tablets, and
mobile phones,” said PLDT and Smart
EVP and Chief Revenue Officer Eric R.
Alberto.
PLDT Home is spending P11 billion
in the next two years to provide its
subscribers with Fibr-fast internet with
the roll-out of over one million ports
nationwide that will upgrade over 1.3
million subscribers.
“We are leveling up their broadband
experience with the migration of our
DSL customers to Fibr-fast connectivity.
This will fortify the foundation of
the SmartHome for the digitally
savvy Filipino family,” said PLDT FVP
and Head of Home Business Marco
Borlongan.
“With our network modernization
program, we are bringing the power of
Fibr to every Filipino home so that our
subscribers can better enjoy their digital Laguindingan Airport in Misamis
lifestyle through access to world-class
Internet. This year, we’ve been rolling
out fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network
Satellite snapshot of an open pit mining
site in Antique Province. Imaging from
NASA Earth Observatory
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nationwide and we’ve also teamed
up with world-renowned content
platforms and providers to ensure that
our subscribers get the best possible
home entertainment experience,” he
stressed.
PLDT is expected to expand its FTTH
coverage to about four million homes
passed by the end of 2017. It is also
deploying hybrid fiber technologies to
allow existing customers to enjoy fiber-
like speeds.
Meanwhile, PLDT wireless unit
Smart Communications has already
finished its LTE rollout in the country’s areas across the country, including
top urban hubs Metro Cebu and Metro
Davao, in the island resort of Boracay,
and in Rizal province. It is currently
underway in Metro Manila.
“By end-2018, over 90% of the
country’s population will have Smart
LTE coverage,” PLDT and Smart FVP
and Head of Consumer Business for
Market Development Oscar A. Reyes, Jr.
said. “We are complementing this LTE
rollout with our deployment of ultra-
fast Smart Wifi, which registers over
100Mbps download and upload speed,
and is now available at key airports,
other transport hubs, popular food
parks, bars and restaurants as part of
our SMART Spots Program all over the
country.”
Among the airports with super
speed Smart Wifi are the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport, Davao City’s
Francisco Bangoy International Airport,
Oriental, Bacolod-Silay International
Airport and Iloilo International Airport,
Roxas Airport, Zamboanga Airport,
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Clark International Airport, Dumaguete-
Sibulan Airport, Laoag International
Airport, General Santos International
Airport, Kalibo International Airport
and Puerto Princesa Airport.
Smart Wifi is also present in the sea
ports of Batangas City and Calapan
in Mindoro, major bus terminals and
thoroughfares, as well as other public
popular entertainment venues and
food parks which are turned into Smart
Spots.
“This comprehensive network
modernization and expansion program
is at the core of the PLDT group’s digital
pivot,” Reyes pointed out.
Smart’s network rollout took a
big bulk of PLDT’s ramped-up capital
expenditure program of P42.8 billion
for 2016, which included the utilization
of the new frequencies freed up with the
acquisition of San Miguel Corporation’s
telco assets.
PH gov’t council announces biennial
review of mining operations nationwide
MANILA – The interagency Mining
Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) will
conduct a review of mining operations
all over the country every two years,
Department of Finance Secretary Carlos
Dominguez III said in a statement.
New mine sites will be covered by the
biennial review, which targets to cover
all existing operations within the term of
President Rodrigo Duterte.
For the first round of the review covering review.
the initial batch of 26 mines, the MICC said
it expects the preliminary results in January
next year and the final report by March.
November 2017 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition
People who went to the UP Los Baños campus on Sept. 23 brought with
them a pamphlet purchased for P30 produced by a group called Bullion
Buyers Ltd. The pamphlet was a collection of propaganda materials on
former president Ferdinand Marcos. Photo by Luis Liwanag, VERA Files
Earlier this month, Smart PLDT FVP and Head of Home Business
announced it was upgrading its cell Marco Borlongan. Handout photo
sites and doubling its LTE capacity LTE rollout in Metro Cebu, Davao
in Marikina and Quezon City as
part of its network expansion and last decade to roll out the country’s
modernization program. The upgrade most extensive fixed and wireless
is expected to improve Smart’s mobile network infrastructure which now
data service, particularly LTE and has 150,000 kilometers of fiber optic
3G, and provide superior network cables designed to support the Filipinos’
capacity to customers who live and growing use of fixed and mobile data. n
work in the two cities. Through LTE
device and SIM swap programs, InterAksyon | October 28, 2017, 3:49 PM
Smart is assisting its customers to
shift to LTE devices and upgrade to
LTE SIMs so that they can fully enjoy
the improved network.
The latest regional results collated
by wireless coverage research firm
OpenSignal also showed that Smart
continues to lead in terms of LTE
speeds across all regions in the
country where it has LTE.
PLDT has invested around P300
billion or nearly US$6 billion over the
“It’s the first time ever that we are and locations, which are as follows:
going to do this review,” Dominguez had • Technical Review (TRT) Team 1 for gold,
said at a recent MICC meeting, adding that
the body was set up in 2012 under Executive copper and nickel mines in the Cordillera
Order No. 79. Administrative Region (CAR), Cagayan Valley
(Region II) and Mindoro, Marinduque,
The MICC is co-chaired by Dominguez Romblon and Palawan (Region IV-B)
and Secretary Roy Cimatu of the
Department of Environment and Natural • TRT 2 for iron and nickel mines in
Resources. Central Luzon (Region III)
Five technical teams will carry out the • TRT 3 for chromite, nickel and iron
mines in Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) and
the Caraga (Region XIII)
Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin
said the clustering of the mines for review • TRT 4 an TRT 5 for nickel and chromite
would be based on the types of minerals mines in Caraga n News5-InterAksyon | October
30, 2017, 11:38 AM