PLDT, Smart fast track fiber optic project in VisMin

DAVAO CITY – Consumers using their mobile devices to access the Internet will soon be treated to lightning speed connection as Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and Smart Communications fast-track their joint fiber optic cable project, company officials said.

The FOC project is part of PLDT and Smart’s P16.7-billion network modernization initiative aimed at laying the infrastructure for a 100-megabit per second voice and data service.

Rolando Peña, PLDT and Smart technology group head, announced here Friday that the FOC project – started in 2011 – could be completed by the end of the year, or 12 months ahead of schedule.

He said the Visayas and Mindanao components of the FOC project are nearly 100 percent complete.

“We have fast-tracked this program because consumer and business demand for mobile broadband services is growing rapidly,” Peña said.

He said the completion of the FOC project will allow Smart subscribers to “enjoy speed and reliability” when they use the Internet.

Yesterday, Smart also announced the scheduled commercial launch of its Long Term Evolution service, the most advanced fourth generation (4G) wireless technology.

“The completion of our FOC project will allow us to improve our network’s capacity as well as its resiliency, and meet the transmission requirements of the most advanced technologies like LTE and HSPA+ (Evolved High Speed Packet Access),” Mario Tamayo, head of Smart’s technology services division, said.

“One by one, the key components of our massive network modernization efforts are reaching completion, and they all play a part in enabling Smart to create a future-proof, world-class network that will greatly benefit our subscribers now and in the years to come,” Peña said.

In a separate interview, Darren Rushworth, managing director of German firm SAP, said mobile computing will become the trend of the future.

Rushworth said with about 5 billion mobile device users worldwide, SAP has envisioned mobile computing as a good opportunity to cash in on mobile applications and solutions that would make business transactions – especially those of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) – easier and faster.

“We develop applications with mobile devices in mind because we see big opportunities in mobile computing,” he said during the Davao leg of the SAP’s SME summit.

Among the business applications that SAP has developed for mobile devices included those used in inventory, banking and payroll management.