PLDT has further revised its Capex (capital expenditure) spending to PHP70 billion in 2020 from the earlier plan of PHP83 billion.
PLDT said the Capex revenue ratio will be about 40 percent for the purpose of investment in improving network and enhancing customer experience.
PLDT is spending PHP48 billion for the mobile network, the core network, transport network. About half will go into rollout of cell sites and upgrade of capacity and, the other half will go to transmission networks. PLDT will be spending more the installation of fiber to the home.
The telecom operator’s plan to invest PHP70 billion in 2020 indicates that PLDT will not hike its Capex spending this year as compared with 2019.
Earlier, PLDT had slashed its Capex spending to PHP63 billion in the wake of Covid-19 issues.
PLDT has spent PHP260 billion in the past five years for building its network in the Philippines
PLDT team
Manny Pangilinan – Chairman and chief executive officer
Al Panlilio – chief revenue officer
Anabelle Lim Chua – chief finance officer
Joachim Horn – chief technology and information advisor
Jane Basas – head, Wireless Business
Juan Victor – senior vice president
Menardo Jimenez – head of Consumer Business
PLDT will focus on three areas in the second half: improving network quality, strengthen its digital content and platforms and customer experience.
PLDT in April 2020 reallocated 2G-assigned frequencies in 1,800 megahertz from 2G to 4G LTE, which allowed the mobile service provider to increase the mobile data capacity of Smart’s network. PLDT also expanded its international links to support the higher demand for Internet connectivity.
PLDT increased the coverage of fixed network to pass 7.8 billion homes at the end of June. PLDT built capacity of 3.7 million fixed broadband ports available to serve those working or studying at home.
The footprint of PLDT’s fiber optic network expanded by 11 percent to about 358,700 kilometers of fiber.
Smart added 2,500 4G LTE-based stations, raising the total to about 27,100, to enhance its mobile data coverage.
Smart added 1,200 3G-based stations to take the total to 15,000 at the end of June. Mobile data payload doubled to 1,368 petabytes in the first half of 2020. Mobile traffic rose by 25 percent in Q2 alone.
OpenSignal said Smart is ahead in terms of video experience, upload/download speeds, voice app experience and 4G availability. Ookla also scored PLDT to the top download and upload speeds for fixed and Smart for wireless in this country.
PLDT has about 69 million mobile Internet customers. Smart has increased the number of 4G LTE stations, rounding up to about 27,000. PLDT’s 4G population coverage reached 95 percent.
PLDT has the widest fiber infrastructure in the country with close to about 360 kilometers of fiber nationwide, up 11 percent versus 2019.
