PLDT allocates USD565 million for 2009 CAPEX plans

The Philippines’ dominant telecommunications company, Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), it is allocating PHP27 billion (USD565.3 million) for capital expenditures in 2009, according to its chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan. The monies will be used to assess market demand and finance the deployment and development of a range of ICT services such as broadband, he told reporters. ‘Under this programme, PLDT’s cable network all over the country will be replaced with high speed data-grade facilities which, when combined with new generation all-IP switches, will be capable of delivering voice, video and data services more capably and efficiently,’ Pangilinan said. Part of the CAPEX will be used to roll out its mobile arm, Smart Communication’s, high speed packet access network for mobile internet services. The telco’s president and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno went on to say that PLDT is targeting a combined broadband subscriber base (including PLDT MyDSL and Smart) of close to a million by end-2009. The operator’s wireless broadband service, SmartBro, has more than 500,000 subscribers while the ADSL base is now at 433,000 subscribers, he added.