Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) has completed a P600-million fiber optic cable project in Bohol that would support the Internet broadband requirements of the province. In a statement, the country's largest telecom company said the new fiber link also strengthens the resiliency of PLDT domestic fiber optic network (DFON) by establishing a third link to the island of Mindanao via Bohol and Misamis Oriental. “This new fiber link will boost Bohol's thriving tourism industry and enable the province to attract more business process outsourcing (BPO) companies to set up shop there," Napoleon L. Nazareno, PLDT president and chief executive said.

"Moreover, Boholanos will be able to enjoy improved Internet services at their homes, schools and offices," he added. Rolando Pena, PLDT Technology Group head said the Bohol DFON is equipped with up to 50 gigabytes capacity to support the increasing demand for greater bandwidth in both fixed and wireless services by corporate customers. The new fiber optic cable facilities also allow PLDT to provide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services and support the operations of its wireless subsidiaries Smart Communications and Sun Cellular, particularly in providing expanded HSPA and LTE coverage to their subscribers in the area, Pena said. Pena said the Bohol fiber optic cable project will also support the information and communication technology requirements of the international airport that will be rise in Panglao Island.

Consisting of 245 kilometers of inland and submarine fiber optic cables (FOC), the Bohol fiber project connects the island in the north from Loon to Mactan in Cebu and in the south from Garcia Hernandez to Kinoguitan in Misamis Oriental. By providing a third link to Mindanao, the Bohol fiber link project bolsters the PLDT's network resiliency, making it less susceptible to outages from fiber cuts caused by natural disasters like earthquakes or heavy storms. The PLDT Group's fiber optic network is the most extensive in the country, with more than 85,000 kilometers of inland and submarine cables at end-March, more than 4 times that of the competition.

"Fiber is the foundation of all digital communications infrastructure. If you don't have enough of it, you cannot offer extensive, resilient high-speed broadband serviced," Pena said. “We will continue to expand our Internet infrastructure to support the development efforts of different parts of the country. This will spread more equitably the benefits of the strong growth of the country's economy," Nazareno said. PLDT closed the first quarter of this year with a net income of P9.392 billion, higher than the previous year's P9.062 billion. Revenue climbed to P42.543 billion from last year's P40.960 billion.(Darwin G. Amojelar, InterAksyon.com)