While the negotiations between San Miguel Corporation and telstra broke down a couple weeks ago, the Australian telecoms giant was apparently talking to another local player for a possible joint venture. The local partner is Meralco and the two are planning to put up a telecoms service, primarily mobile internet and broadband, by end of August 2016.
The joint-venture will harness the existing infrastructure of Meralco and use existing powerlines to distribute mobile and internet services across the Philippines.
“Meralco is in the better position to roll-out wireless service and broadband internet to the Filipino consumers due to its massive distribution network already in place”, according to Andy Penn, Telstra CEO.
The initial roll-out will include Gigabit internet to the home using the same power lines currently running from the NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) towers down to the electric poles of baranggays and subdivisions.
That means all residential areas currently hooked up to Meralco can sign up for the Gigabit internet almost immediately.
A Spark lightbulb with built-in WiFi router will be provided for each new subscription. All the subscriber needs to do is plug it to any existing socket in the house and Gigabit WiFi will be immediately activated. An additional Php1,999USD 34INR 2,888EUR 32CNY 248 per Spark bulb will be charged if a subscriber needs more bulbs for bigger houses.
All connections will be set at 1Gbps to the home but the cost will be based on the amount of bandwidth consumed. The rates will be the same as the prevailing electric rates in the respective area.
For example, in Makati the rate was Php 7.4176USD 0.13INR 11EUR 0.12CNY 0.92/kwh for February 2016. This means the rate for the Gigabit internet will also be Php7.4176USD 0.13INR 11EUR 0.12CNY 0.92/GB. If you consume 100GB a month, your internet bill will be Php741.76USD 13INR 1,072EUR 12CNY 92. Meralco is imposing this scheme since its power consumers are already familiar with the rate system for electricity and adopting the same for internet makes it easily understandable.
Initial roll-out will be in stages, starting with Makati, Pasig, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Manila and Quezon City sometime in August with the rest of Metro Manila by end of December. Meralco will be working a domestic partnership with other electric distribution companies outside of Metro Manila to be able to offer this service by 1st quarter of 2017.
Earlier this year, news broke out that the negotiations between Telstra and San Miguel have ceased due to some commercial disagreements. We made some guesses as to the reasons why here.
{Source}
YugaTech.com is the largest and longest-running technology site in the Philippines. Originally established in October 2002, the site was transformed into a full-fledged technology platform in 2005.
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Mark Ballesteros Marcelo says:
What?!? Meralco and Telstra?!? And Meralco is planning to put up a telco service? Oh no… Meralco could not be a game changer. Meralco’s major stockholder is Beacon Electric and Asset Holdings which is owned by PLDT. Duopoly still exists. San Miguel please launch your own service now!!!
TEST says:
April fools?
Marck Eco says:
April Fool’s day! You take this too seriously.. =)
LOL says:
i like this day
Guy says:
San Mig already launched a service. It’s called Wi-Tribe. It was the biggest flop ever and many customers have been left without internet for months as they slowly close down the business.
you says:
april fools man. damn
H says:
Don’t believe every thing you hear or read TODAY. ^^,
Jesty Orendez says:
Seriously? ????
ferdinand says:
i will w8 hahahaha
Jhay (@imjoceldacillo) says:
Manny V. Pangilinan owned both Meralco and PLDT :)
AprilPrank says:
@Mark Marcelo. FYI. Meralco and San Miguel has already put up their own telco services – Radius Telecom and Vega Telecom respectively. So spare us from your shock and search it yourself. And BTW, the article above is just another April Fool’s prank.
PS: Ignorance still exists. Mark Ballesteros Marcelo please activate your self-destruct button now!!!
Anna Mae Junio (@AnnaMaeJ) says:
Manny V. Pangilinan doesn’t owned both Meralco and PLDT. He’s just a DUMMY of wealthy Indonesians. Indonesians are controlling the Philippines FYI.
Beeps de los Santos says:
April fool’s day?
Anon7 says:
Is this an April Fool’s Joke too?
Mike says:
Clearly and April Fool’s joke. This is getting old, Yuga.
abcde says:
This is an April Fools Day joke, isn’t it? Telstra bashed PLDT earlier for providing slow internet service and now they’ve partnered with Meralco, a company lead by MVP as well?
anonymous1 says:
not sure if April fool’s prank or not.. :|
kadz says:
April fools day!
emignatius says:
(tagged: april fool’s) Nice try Yuga, LOL.
James says:
Oh, it’s April.
Marco Bicodo says:
Happy April Fool’s
Eric says:
april fools?
HAHA says:
Check the date of post and the author. #LOL
Earwin says:
April Fools day. :P
leviMonreal says:
what is this??? April FOOL biggest frank.. OHKNOW!!!!
TROLL says:
TROLL APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHA….nice SIR!
sonny manalac says:
April Fool’s!!!!
CHRIS says:
APRIL FOOLS
MarkAndApps says:
Mahal pa rin.
Kris Aquino says:
April Fools!
April 1 says:
fools haha
Wha™ says:
happy april fools day!
Wha™ says:
happy april fools day
Om Nom says:
April Fools!
J.P. Reyes says:
@LOL, me too, hahaha.
pero nice no, if they only knew meralco’s position for an ISP like what they’ve experimented with in the USA, though it’s not that good for gaming, or latency sensitive use. it could give a decent speed for normal users, say like limited to youtubers, and minimal browsers.. not like that forbes park need those 50-100mbps plans telcos are pushing down their throaths.
LOL says:
take a look at your fucking calandars ffs
Jason says:
HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!
Matt says:
April fools! :D
Dio Basconcillo (@axilomx) says:
You gotta love April 1, and all the craziness that goes with it
evereth says:
April fools
Aprilfooled says:
A for effort for April Fools!
Easy E says:
April one pa more
Toothless Umami says:
April fools!
Jojo Esposa Jr. says:
April Fools! :-)
zoelski says:
Nice try but April Fool Day
Get Shit Done says:
This paragraph fucked it up so bad.
For example, in Makati the rate was Php 7.4176/kwh for February 2016. This means the rate for the Gigabit internet will also be Php7.4176/GB. If you consume 100GB a month, your internet bill will be Php741.76. Meralco is imposing this scheme since its power consumers are already familiar with the rate system for electricity and adopting the same for internet makes it easily understandable.
wilde says:
No joke, it’s actually possible
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_over_power_lines
rifleman13 says:
LOL… this is an article back in 2009 http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/13/meralco-planning-internet-over-power-lines-in-the-philippines/
Gaby DadofPie (@DadofPie) says:
Actually back in the day a friend of my parents was trying to do this but ended up not succeding cause of so many arguments with the goverment but this is actually 50/50 on it being real or not since it was posted on april 1 and all the information is shit but I have had word that telstra is talking with meralco because of problems with san miguel but do not quote me on that
RATM says:
B.S. i consume a total of 200gb ~300gb or more per month
Franz Joseph Mendoza says:
april fools day nga pala
Jayar says:
April 1 :)
hee hee says:
I tried to laugh at first but then the article just plain dive into sh*t that wouldnt make sense like meralco servicing the entire country and will be offering wireless.
Nonetheless the author may not be aware yet that meralco is in fact already an ISP thru Radius. Theyre not using powerlines though but pure fiber. And yes its owned by MVP which shares its facilities with PLDT
.
April says:
Happy April Fools Day…. (sorry for stating the obvious)
[email protected] says:
SALIM group managed by MVP wins this game…
Onir says:
Lol powerline + dsl = highpower noise + am like noise in short unstable
April 1 dude
April fools
Tsk
KALVIN says:
Not true .. because. .
http://www.rappler.com/business/9489-meralco-scraps-broadband-over-power-lines-project
Jaycee Gudoy says:
This is April Fools day. juanknows.com
goodace says:
This is so impossible, electricity will just interfere the connection due to electric current. As i remember pldt and meralco had already tested the possibility of power line towers for wireless connection but the result just proved the high interference of electricity in connectivity.
Goty says:
Anak ng…almost fell for this ;D