broadband

Sky Cable announced on Monday, July 22, that it has entered into a commercial arrangement with fiber broadband provider Converge ICT to enable Sky to upgrade its network and improve services to its subscribers.

This approach, the report said, allows new market entrants to utilize existing network infrastructure, significantly reducing setup costs and entry barriers.

The National Fiber Backbone Phase 1 is a 1,245-kilometer cable network from Laoag, Ilocos Norte to Roces, Quezon City, illuminating 28 nodes and delivering an initial 600 Gbps optical spectrum capacity.

In its report, the Philippines trails behind Malaysia, but is ahead of Indonesia and Laos, when it comes to broadband speeds.

Chinese tech firm ZTE Corporation has launched fiber to the x (FTTx) and connected home-themed series of broadband solutions and products at the Networks X held in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

PLDT’s total fixed broadband customers are now nearly three million, a record high for the group.

Converge said it is planning to use its micro-trenching technology to put key connectivity elements underground, doing away with the need to rely on poles which are prone to damage during typhoons.

NEDA director-general Karl Chua said there had been some improvements in the country's broadband performance, but the Philippines can do better as it currently ranks 63 out of 178 countries in terms of broadband speed.

With the completion of Phase 1 of the much-touted National Broadband Plan (NBP), Sen. Grace Poe said the Filipino people are looking forward to the government's promised 200 megabits per second (Mbps) Internet speed for state agencies and departments.

Officials said RED Fiber does not intend to compete with current broadband providers such as PLDT, which is a sister firm under the MVP Group.