[ad_1]
PLDT raised its investment budget for 2021 by as much as 25 percent, as part of its support for a government push to improve telecommunications services across the country.
In a statement, PLDT chief revenue officer Alfredo Panlilio said that an increase in demand for data means it is prepared to invest between PHP88 billion ($ 1.8 billion) and PHP92 billion.
“We want to compare ourselves, not just to local competition, but to our neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam, as we want our network performance to be on par with global companies.”
The operator originally budgeted PHP83 billion for equity investments in 2020, but lowered the forecast to the same level as in 2019 (PHP70 billion) due to Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdown measures.
Mobile unit Smart Communications increased its base station count 20 percent year-on-year so far in 2020 to more than 58,000.
In its third-quarter financial report, the company said it plans to add around 2,000 sites in 2021 and identified six tower companies to handle the initial construction of common infrastructure for another government program.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter Back
[ad_2]
