SubicTel expands capacity with fiber optic cable

MANILA, Philippines, May 15, 2007 – Subic Telecommunications Company Inc. (SubicTel), a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., will soon have a state-of-the-art fiber optic connection that will increase its capacity for data services in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

SubicTel General Manager Henry Abes said the telecommunications company will soon be part of PLDT’s Domestic Fiber Optic Network, the country’s most extensive fiber optic network.

“This is a P212 million project that will be completed by PLDT by the end of the year. This will increase the Internet bandwidth capacity of SubicTel, provide better quality of service, and allow for new services such as bundled voice, data and video,” said Abes.

“Subic Bay Freeport Zone, in particular, will now become a much more attractive haven for ICT investments such as call centers and BPOs—companies that need high bandwidth services and reliable connections.”

The new network will span 285 kilometers of fiber optic cables that will form several redundant loops covering Angeles, Clark, Porac, San Fernando, Guagua, Lubao and Floridablanca in Pampanga, and Dinalupihan in Bataan, Subic Town in Zambales, and Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Olongapo.

Earlier this year, SubicTel just connected another 45 Mbps bandwidth pipe from PLDT, doubling last year’s bandwidth capacity. With the installation of the fiber optic network, this will further increase bandwidth capacity to 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) or STM-16 to meet increasing demands of customers.

The 2.5 Gbps bandwidth is enough for 30,240 simultaneous voice calls.
“The fiber backhaul connectivity that we are building is very robust. It has multi-loops to provide the redundancy in case of fiber breaks. We also have IP Radio facilities for additional redundancy insurance,” said Abes.

Aside from the capacity, redundancy is a very important requirement for prospective locators in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. With the fiber optic network of Subic connected to the PLDT DFON in a series of rings, traffic is rerouted to many possible routes, thus avoiding costly service disruptions.
SubicTel has tapped Fujitsu Philippines, a leading provider of customer-focused information technology and communications solutions, to maintain SubicTel’s facilities in order to efficiently provide data services such as DSL, or digital subscriber line.