PLDT Inc

TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

Wireless Network Infrastructure

Mobile

Our mobile network supports 5G, 4G and other technologies. We continue to expand our LTE capacity, increase our 5G coverage, and roll out more physical sites to widen our coverage in order to sustain the growing demand for our services. As at December 31, 2023, Smart had more than 44,000 4G/5G base stations throughout the Philippines. We believe our mobile network covers 97% of the population and is present in 97% of the country’s cities and municipalities, as at December 31, 2023.

Fixed wireless services are also offered to residential and corporate clients through our high capacity mobile network. This complements our fibered fixed network as our fixed wireless services are able to reach areas that are not currently serviced through wired connections. To support the delivery of this huge amount of traffic, the backhaul of our cell sites are being migrated to fiber. To date, more than two-thirds of our cell sites are connected through fiber.

To support our 5G capabilities, our data core network is being transformed into a virtualized network to instill it with new capabilities, such as automation, network slicing and improved resiliency, while supporting massive data traffic growth.

Furthermore, we continue to evolve our voice core network through our ongoing transformation activities. Additional capabilities, such as “Voice over WiFi”, allow users to make and receive voice calls in WiFi environments, and Voice over LTE, provided high quality voice calls and faster call setup times.

Fixed Line Network Infrastructure

Domestic

PLDT’s fixed line infrastructure is comprised of the latest technologies, delivering voice, broadband and ICT services to home and corporate customers. We deliver voice and high-speed broadband to each home through our all-fiber network, FTTH, an IP-based platform. At present, FTTH is capable of delivering 2.5 Gbps and up to 10 Gbps, and we have deployed FTTH in all cities and in the majority of municipalities in the Philippines. We have already started retiring the legacy copper network, replacing it with FTTH to provide high speed broadband and improve customer experience. This network provides broadband availability to approximately 17.5 million homes passed, as at December 31, 2023.

PLDT provides enterprise and ICT services through its Carrier Ethernet network (CEN). PLDT’s CEN is based on Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)3.0, the latest standardized, carrier-class service and network. This highly reliable and resilient system provides high capacity and high-speed VPN services for all corporate customers. It supports enterprise requirements such as data storage, headquarter to branch connectivity, headquarter to disaster recovery site connectivity, cloud services and backhaul for mobile/LTE services. PLDT also uses the “Software Defined Wide Area Network” to deliver such enterprise services across different service providers and over the internet in a secured manner.

We likewise have an IP backbone (IPBB) network, composed of high-capacity, high-performance core and edge routers, with capacities of up to 100Gbps per port in key exchanges that provide IP connectivity to the different network elements built for PLDT, Smart and other subsidiaries and affiliates. It serves as a common and highly resilient IP transport platform for all of our IP-based services. In 2020, the IPBB underwent a transformation project called the “Transport Network Transformation Project” (TNT Project), which significantly increased the network’s capacity and upgraded its routing technology to the latest technology, including segment routing and software defined network (SDN) technology.

All our networks are connected nationwide through PLDT’s nationwide fiber backbone, the DFON. DFON is comprised of transport nodes connected by terrestrial and submarine cable links configured in 11 loops and two appendages extending to Palawan and Iligan. The DFON loops provide self-healing and alternative segment route protection for added resiliency against single and multiple fiber breaks along the different segments. The DFON has a capacity of 19.2 Tbps per fiber pair. The DFON network also connects three of PLDT’s international cable landing stations. Following the implementation of the TNT Project, the DFON network gained added resiliency and network reliability as we implemented an automatic fail capability into the DFON network to automatically transfer traffic to other redundancy links in the event the DFON experiences downtime. The DFON is complemented by a terrestrial microwave backbone network to deliver services to remote areas unreachable by the fixed terrestrial transport network.

Both the DFON and IPBB serve as the common high bandwidth fiber optic cable-based backbone for the PLDT Group. DFON is part of the more than 900,000 total fiber kilometers of the PLDT Group, as at December 31, 2023. These networks are supported by SDN technology, which simplifies and automates network provisioning and operations.

International

PLDT’s international network was designed and built to support IP-based international services, including voice, messaging, international enterprise solutions, and the biggest use of international network resources today, the Internet services of the PLDT Group. The international network also supports in part requirements of the international retail business run by PLDT Global in various locations in Asia, Europe and the United States.

For voice services, PLDT operates two IP voice gateways. As at December 31, 2023, PLDT’s facilities allow the exchange of traffic with 77 foreign carriers from 35 countries and can reach almost 1,000 foreign destinations (including fixed and wireless network destination “breakouts”, or specific areas within a country) worldwide.

As at December 31, 2023, the Company has five international internet gateways to fortify PLDT Group’s infrastructure for internet and IP-based services, as well as connections of our fixed and wireless networks to content and internet services available from, and businesses connected to, the global internet. All these gateways employ high-capacity and high-performance routers. Together with ancillary facilities (such as security against network/service attacks), they provide premium and differentiated internet and/or IP services to all types of customers ranging from ordinary broadband to high bandwidth internet requirements of corporate customers, knowledge processing solution providers, internet service providers (ISPs) and even other service providers. As at December 31, 2023, PLDT also operates six offshore/ forward gateway routers in Hong Kong, Singapore, United States, and Japan to support optimized and direct access to content providers and businesses connected to the internet in Asia, as well as the continental U.S., which we expect to result in faster internet speed. All gateway routers utilize high capacity 100 Gbps interface and transmission facilities.

To localize international internet content, PLDT employs local transparent caching network, and additionally, a network of content provider/distributor-supplied local caching servers at key locations. With these facilities, high demand contents from popular content and content delivery network providers are available locally and are delivered to PLDT customers.

PLDT operates the Philippines’ most extensive international submarine cable network. As at December 31, 2023, PLDT maintains and operates three international cable landing stations in La Union and Batangas for international cables coming from the West

Philippine Sea, and in Daet in the east for international cables coming from the Pacific Ocean. In May 2023, NTC issued provisional authority to build new international cable landing stations in Baler, Aurora in the Northeast, and in Digos, Davao in the Southern coastal borders of the Philippines, which are targeted to be completed in 2025. These will provide telco carriers new alternative routes which do not traverse the usual West Philippine Sea Waters.

Connecting the country to the rest of the world via PLDT’s international cable stations are submarine cable systems in which PLDT had invested in and/or acquired capacities. The table below shows the submarine cable systems in which PLDT has interests, which terminate in the Philippines or connect with other submarine cable systems from the Philippines or other countries or territories:

PLDT continues to work with major Asian carriers to implement the new Asia Direct Cable (ADC) to support the expected new fixed and mobile services requirements. ADC is estimated to be completed and ready for service within 2025.

PLDT is also working closely with other Asian carriers and Hyperscalers to build the Apricot Cable. The completion of the Apricot cable in 2026 will further augment PLDT's international capacity for data traffic, particularly to the U.S. and across Asia and the Pacific, and raise PLDT’s total international capacity to more than 140Tbps once fully equipped.

PLDT’s international automatic optical transport switching system and carrier ethernet network continues to provide effective redundancy and continuity of service to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and the U.S. Mainland for premium enterprise clients. Additional dedicated submarine cable circuits were provisioned, and capacity of nodes upgraded, to support growing business requirements. Also, our Guam node, PLDT’s 5th international point-of-presence (POP), is expected to be launched within 2024.

SEASONALITY

Our business is not subject to any material seasonal fluctuations.