PLDT Inc.’s broadband service provider for residential customers is launching its next-generation fiber service next month.
PLDT Home said it would roll out ultrafast Gigabit Plans by March, which offer broadband speeds up to 10 gigabits.
“We are elevating the conversation on Internet access, shifting the focus to gigabits per second from megabits. We want to make Gbps the standard for connectivity speed across every Filipino home,” said PLDT senior vice president and head of customer business and PLDT Home Jeremiah de la Cruz.
“What we are introducing is the next generation of fiber broadband service,” he said.
The company said 10 Gbps or 10,000 Mbps is at least 10 times the fastest Internet access now offered by PLDT Home’s competitors.
It said that at that level of connectivity, downloading a 20-GB, 4K video file would take seconds to complete, not minutes. It also allows multiple users on several devices to run applications requiring high bandwidth simultaneously without delay.
“What we are doing is the equivalent of the transition to 5G from 4G in mobile communication. We are pushing the boundary in Internet access in the Philippines, giving the Filipino consumer a taste of first-world connectivity,” de la Cruz said.
Internet connectivity of 10 Gbps is available in countries such as Norway, South Korea and the US.
“This is our contribution to nation-building, to accelerating the Philippines’ digital transformation,” said de la Cruz.
He said PLDT continues to invest heavily on new technology and network upgrades to reach more Filipinos and equip them with world-class connectivity.
Gigabit plans offer speeds of 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, 5 Gbps and 10 Gbps. The plans are bundled with premium video services, top-of-the-line device, and total Internet security provided by Kaspersky for two years.
The plans will initially be available to a select customer segment but should soon be within the reach of a wider market given the growing demand for faster Internet access and large bandwidth for everyday tasks and entertainment, PLDT said.
An analysis by global solutions provider OpenVault in their third-quarter 2023 Broadband Insights report focused on a trend that shows subscribers continuing to upgrade to faster speeds, with extremely high data consumers—a subset OpenVault refers to as Extreme Power Users–increasing their requirements by 60 percent.
Extreme Power Users, OpenVault describes, are those consuming at least 5 terabytes of data every month—more than twice the 2 TB monthly consumption of Super Power Users, with a large portion of their data usage dedicated for streaming.
The average consumer, OpenVault found out in their third quarter report, uses 550.2 GB per month, up 11 percent year-on-year.
“We want to level the playing field by providing customers the connectivity they need to ford the digital divide,” de la Cruz said.
