PLDT plans to bring Fiber speeds to standard phone lines

Even until today, fiber roll-out in key cities is a bit insufficient to reach every home in the area. That’s why PLDT wants to take advantage of its broad coverage of telephone lines to deliver similar speeds.

This comes after the successful trials of two advanced hybrid fiber technologies namely “GiGa Wire” by KT Corporation (formerly Korea Telecom) and “G.fast.” by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.. According to PLDT, both are capable of providing data speeds per user of up to 600-700 Mbps per user, depending on the length of the local copper loop.

This setup works by connecting structures and houses with fiber optic cables and using special equipment to enable the internal copper wiring of these structures to deliver fiber-like data speeds. Since the majority of the buildings in the country are wired with copper, this will vastly cut cost instead of re-wiring each with fiber optic.

“This new initiative is part of our broad effort to make fiber-powered, high-speed connectivity more widely available to the public. It’s part and parcel of building the ‘Gigabit Society’ – where high-bandwidth, low-latency digital services in homes, businesses, healthcare services, utilities and schools become an integral part of daily life.” – PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

The initial plan is to deploy these technologies to over 500 buildings nationwide. The number is to be divided among residential and office buildings. By 2018 and 2019, it will be increased to 1,600. The initiative will be a P2 billion three-year deployment. We’ll see how that will work out in the coming years.

Daniel Morial

This article was contributed by Daniel Morial, a film school graduate and technology enthusiast. He's the geeky encyclopedia and salesman among his friends for anything tech.

http://www.yugatech.com

16 Comments

Johnny says:

8 years ago

Yung masama pa nito e kung sino pa yung willing mag bayad every month ng fibr e sila pa yung walang fibr box sa village. Pero sana naman makabitan na dito! Katabi lang namin yung Ayala Alabang halos lahat ng katabi naming village meron fibr.
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cruizer says:

8 years ago

Fiber optic technology is not magic. It is also subject to wear and tear.

I’ll give you an example of ‘aging technology’ – gigabit Ethernet. The first release of that technology was fiber-only. It was only later that they got it to work on — you guessed it — copper twisted wires. By this virtue, will you say that copper is aging technology and won’t cut it?

All that remains to be seen is how effective this is, and how much speed can be squeezed from copper wiring. And based on the press release, it seems to be building-local technology, meaning fiber from telco to the building (e.g. condo) then all occupants in the building will utilize existing copper wiring for their connection from the fiber point to their specific floor/unit. It will be definitely cheaper than fiber all the way to an occupant in the building. I don’t think this tech applies to most home connections in the Phils.
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cruizer says:

8 years ago

Madali lang sa inyo magsalita kasi di naman kayo ang PLDT na gumagastos sa infrastructure. Syempre kung nakikita nila na napakalaking gastusin ang ibasura ang copper infrastructure nila (na ilang dekada nang andyan) at magroll out ng fiber optic, hahanap sila ng paraan na makakapag transition sila nang paunti-unti habang kumikita at nakakapagbigay ng serbisyo na halos kasingbilis na rin ng fiber.

Negosyo yan, mga ‘tol.
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Mixkey says:

8 years ago

Well, there will always be pros and cons but to think they would utilize an aging technology knowingly that it has issues. Yes, it is easy to say that it’s a waste if you know how copper line works. True, it is a business which definitely they would earn big time and service the Filipinos with fiber speed but then again wear & tear applies to existing copper line along with the cons that comes with it. They know that and in the future they might include rewiring services as an add-on. I rather have a fiber coax hybrid.

Ton says:

8 years ago

Expect erratic connections if they are going to push it with copper lines. The system cannot handle such speeds.
Leave those speeds to fiber.
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Mil says:

8 years ago

Kami nga meron na fiber na 5 poste layo since March 2016 pa. Nag inquire ako na kung pede mag migrate tutal pasok naman ako sa 250m or 5 poste. Palagi sinasabi sakin di pa raw activated yung mga boxes sa poste ng village namin.
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cruizer says:

8 years ago

It remains to be seen if KT Giga Wire technology can really deliver, given the current state of PLDT’s copper wiring infrastructure.

http://www.netmanias.com/en/post/korea_ict_news/10823/gigabit-internet-kt/kt-s-giga-wire-using-copper-line-at-1gbps-connects-the-world-moving-beyond-europe

If this technology can provide even up to 100 Mbps reliably, that would be very good already. Migrating to full fiber to the home (FTTH) is very expensive.
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Mixkey says:

8 years ago

It’s a complete waste and more on the cons side to the subscriber. Copper line has a lot of issues and in the long run it will be added expenses.
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SpiderWak says:

8 years ago

Pinoy mentality.. tinitipid para maka save pero di naman pala totoong savings yun dahil lalaki ang expense in the future.

binoy says:

8 years ago

So mukhang napakatagal pang maghihintay ng mga nakatira sa hindi mayayamang subdivision at mga buildings para makatikim ng fiber-like speeds kahit gusto at may pambayad ang mga ito.
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K L says:

8 years ago

source please
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cruizer says:

8 years ago

…”of up to”

dyan tayo magkakatalo. he he
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el gato says:

8 years ago

at least, some buildings in selected cities can avail up to 600-700mbps… kami na nasa maliit na town, walang pldt, merong 3G smart (up to ?mbps), LTE globe (up to 10mbps)… :)

K L says:

8 years ago

your source please can’t find on pldt website
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Daniel Morial says:

8 years ago

It’s part of the press release sent to us by PLDT.

manes says:

8 years ago

“fiber roll-out in key cities is a ‘BIT’ insufficient to reach every home in the area” wala pa nga sa talampakan ng mga subscriber nyo ang ramdam ng fiber nyo eh. ang dami pang areas na wala pang linya ng fiber
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