PLDT Inc. said Wednesday it launched a massive cleanup drive nationwide, recovering copper cables no longer needed as it upgrades customers to fiber and promotes safety in the community.
PLDT’s cleanup drive, which consists of preventive maintenance activities, complies with congressional bills and resolutions and ordinances from local government units requiring utility companies to tidy up the country’s streets of sagging cables, tilting poles and the like.
“In these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, high-speed internet connection has become an essential need. Hence, we have launched a modernization program that entails the migration of our service connectivity from copper to fiber, and installing new fiber connections to meet the ever-increasing demand for high-speed internet access,” said Alfredo Panlilio, PLDT chief revenue officer and Smart president.
PLDT said with the migration to fiber, it would remove idle copper cables and wires that were left behind and spruce up the affected streets and barangays to create a more pleasant environment for residents and visitors.
“As a good corporate citizen, PLDT is doing this cleanup drive, mindful of the safety and well-being of the residents as well as the community in general,” Panlilio said.
“We are implementing the programmed preventive maintenance on the barangay level, starting with those having high trouble index and poor line condition,” PLDT-Smart network operations vice president Debbie Hu said.
“Currently, we have completed the inspection of 46 priority barangays and preventive maintenance activities are underway,” she said.
Apart from these 46 barangays, PLDT is also doing several preventive maintenance works in other areas which are triggered by requests from LGUs and netizens’ reports.
The preventive maintenance includes replacement, relocation or re-attachment of network access points, distribution points, local convergence points, closures and poles; replacement, relocation and rehabilitation of cross connect cabinets and main distribution frames; replacement and repair of manhole covers; re-tensioning and re-grooming of fiber and copper cables; and recovery of idle cables.
“Preventive maintenance is part of PLDT’s commitment to improve its various services,” Hu said.
Service improvement is also being delivered by PLDT’s fiber optic network, the country’s most extensive digital data infrastructure with a footprint that now reaches 382,500 kilometers.
