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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider PLDT/Smart Secured 6.5K Cellsite Permits

PLDT/Smart Secured 6.5K Cellsite Permits

Published Dec 22, 2020 04:13 pm

PLDT Inc. and wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) secured over 6,500 permits to build cell sites in the second half of 2020, after the government cut the red tape.

Since July, Smart secured over 2,500 permits to build more cell sites while PLDT secured around 4,000 permits.

"Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and the lockdowns, we managed to ramp up our network rollout, with the help of government," according to Alfredo S. Panlilio, Smart Communications President and CEO and PLDT Chief Revenue Officer.

PLDT's fiber infrastructure is now at more than 422,000 kilometers. This supports Smart's mobile networks, which cover 96% of the population and are present in 95% of cities and municipalities.

As of November, Smart has also increased the number of its base stations to over 58,000, increasing the number of base stations by 20 percent compared to end-2019.

Smart likewise rolled out additional 5G sites as it accelerated its 5G commercial services nationwide.

To date, Smart has over 10,000 sites across the country, including more than 700 new cell sites fired up by the end of 2020 despite mobility restrictions and supply chain challenges due to COVID-19.

These will help Smart increase its LTE population coverage, cover more municipalities and provide more capacity for dense areas. Smart is rolling out an additional 2,000 cell sites in 2021.

PLDT is also further increasing the capacity of its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network and laying out additional ports in 2021.

PLDT's rollout of its Home broadband service is expected to reach 48% of the total cities and municipalities nationwide by end of the year, serving the data connectivity needs of Filipinos as they work and study from home in the new normal.

These initiatives form part of PLDT’s investments in capital expenditures, which have totaled Php 260 billion from 2015 to 2019.

PLDT’s expansion helped the Group cope with sustained growth in data traffic when COVID-19 community quarantines commenced in March.

PLDT is anticipating capex of at least P70 billion for 2020.

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