Wednesday, May 28, 2008 PLDT mulls launching 3rd gateway in South
TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is studying the possibility of launching its third gateway in the southern part of the country.
Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT, said they are looking at four to five provinces that would host the third submarine cable network.
Pangilinan, during the launching of their second submarine cable landing station -- the Asia America Gateway (AAG) -- said there is a need to build redundancy in the Visayas and Mindanao to address the demand.
He added that they might spend an equal amount or roughly US$500 million for the third submarine cable gateway in the South.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the main guest in the launching of the PLDT's second submarine cable. She was accompanied by CICT chairman Eric Rey Chua, Camarines Representative Joseph Santiago, and other officials by PLDT led by its president Napoleon Nazareno.
Asked on possible areas for the third gateway, Pangilinan said: "Leyte, Cebu Cagayan de Oro, or Surigao, tentatively that we are looking at."
While he noted that most of their Internet connections are in the United States, Pangilinan stressed that there was no clear plan yet, but they consider connecting this next facility to Japan.
"(We) target (to start the South submarine cable network) within the year," Pangilian said.
PLDT's first submarine cable landing was located in Batangas. The second-the AAG cable project with 20,000 kilometers long fiber optic cable that will connect Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and the US West Coast.
Erick Alberto, PLDT senior vice president for customer sales and marketing group, also confirmed that they are seriously considering but there has to be a full study before pushing through with the plan.
"It's a project were looking at but we really have to match the demand for the capacity," Alberto said.
According to him, there is demand to put in the redundancy, but he could not really quantify it unless they have completed the study.
He said at present, PLDT controls 70 to 80 percent shares of the Internet market and has current Internet subscribers of more than 600,000.
"We also expect this to hit one million (Internet subscribers) in 2009," added Alberto. (MSN/Sunnex)
