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PLDT capex up 7.4% to P16 B(Philippine Star News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) MANILA, Philippines - Capital expenditures of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) increased by 7.4 percent in the first nine months of the year amid higher spending for its wireless business. PLDT president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno said the company spent P16 billion on capital expenditures for the first nine months of the year or P1.1 billion higher compared to the P14.9 billion in the same period last year. Capital expenditures for its wireless business surged 22 percent to P8.9 billion in the first nine months of the year from P7.3 billion in the same period last year. On the other hand, capital spending for the fixed line business declined by 6.6 percent to P7.1 billion from P7.6 billion. Nazareno said the PLDT Group has decided to increase its budget for capital expenditures to P34.5 billion instead of P32 billion due to the projected increase in its broadband business. "In anticipation of the continued growth of the market's appetite for data services following our free internet promo as well as to meet increasing fixed wireless data demand, PLDT is accelerating its data capacity build-out in 2014 and 2015," he added. usiness ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The PLDT Group started offering "free Internet" to all subscribers of Smart Communications Inc., Talk 'N Text, and Sun Cellular last Sept. 26 up to Jan.5 next year. The PLDT Group has earmarked P20.8 billion for its wireless business this year or 21.6 percent higher than last year's P17.1 billion and P13.7 billion for its fixed line business or 17.1 percent higher than P11.7 billion. The amount allocated this year would be used to bankroll further enhancement of 3G that currently covers all cities and 92 percent of all municipalities as well as expansion of its 4G footprint. The PLDT Group is also expanding its fiber optic cable network footprint of at least 90,000 kilometers and is also activating a domestic fiber optic network (DFON) third leg between Visayas and Mindanao. Nazareno pointed out that the capital expenditures would also fortify PLDT's northern and southern Luzon aerial fiber optic cable to underground conduit system for improved reliability and resiliency during typhoons. Nazareno said, on-going network activities include the partnership with Hong Kong-based PCCW to undertake the 25,000-km Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) Cable System. The PLDT official said the company expects to boost the capacity of its DFON to 92,000 kilometers with a capacity of 550 gigabits per second by the first quarter of next year. PLDT is looking at expanding its Frequency/ Time Division long-term evolution network (FD/TD-LTE) coverage to around 2,600 base stations within the year to provide high-speed Internet services to more Filipino homes all over the country. Nazareno also reported that the PLDT Group is also pursuing the unification of the network of Smart and Sun Cellular to improve operational efficiency. The project has so far covered 100 percent of Mindanao and 78 percent of all provinces. It has so far decommissioned 300 sites and expects to shut down a total of 800 sites by the end of the year. |