New undersea fiber optic cable to boost PLDT capacity
| File photo
Manuel Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. is set to activate next month its 14,000-kilometer submarine fiber optic cable system, which is seen to support its data center capacity.
The US-Transpacific Jupiter cable system will increase the fully integrated telecommunication firm’s international capacity to about 60 terabits per second from 20 terabits per second in the United States and Japan. The cable system is linked to a landing station in Daet, Camarines Norte.
“Investments on infrastructure like Jupiter allow PLDT to provide the vital connectivity that powers our digital economy, enabling us to help transform the country into a globally competitive and digitally-empowered nation,” PLDT head of enterprise business group Jojo Gendrano said.
“Specifically, this will fortify the Philippines’ position as the next strategic data center hub for global hyperscalers,” he added.
Expanding data centers
Pangilinan, who chairs PLDT, earlier expressed interest to further scale up the company’s data center business given the increasing demand for hyperscalers or those entities providing cloud, networking and internet services. In May, PLDT Inc. broke ground for VITRO Sta. Rosa, its 11th and biggest data center, which is designed to have a total capacity of 100 megawatts.
The cable system can also address the heightened needs for digital services, including cloud solutions, financial technology and media content, which are in line with PLDT’s portfolio.
“The addition of Jupiter to PLDT’s network will further accelerate the ability of our enterprise customers to execute their digital transformation initiatives,” Gendrano said.
“Moreover, it will allow us to uplift the infrastructure we provide to business process outsourcing firms to support their hyper-connectivity requirements, not only in Metro Manila but also in other parts of the country,” he added.
Following the activation of Jupiter, PLDT will have 17 international cabling systems.
PLDT recently increased its capital expenditure program for this year to P85 million from the previous P76 to P80 billion for its home broadband and data center businesses, as well as additional upgrades of towers.
In the first quarter, PLDT saw its net income grow by 56 percent to P9.08 billion, driven by earnings from its data and broadband businesses.
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