The Philippines’ largest, fully integrated telco provider PLDT Inc. announces completion of its initiatives to transform its legacy fixed wireless service called Home Ultera, into better and faster fixed wired and wireless service.
PLDT will complete the scheduled decommissioning of about 185 telecom towers by end-July 2022, that provide Time-Division Duplex Long-Term Evolution or TD-LTE coverage to Home Ultera.
This means that over 3,000 subscribers of Home Ultera who are eligible for service migration, will have the option to either move to higher speed fixed fiber plans, or to a postpaid wireless service for the home at no additional cost, and for better customer experience.
Customers who will migrate to Home Fiber will also enjoy free installation and modem fees.
This migration initiative will cover 58 areas in the Philippines including Abra, Agusan del Sur, Aklan, Albay, Antique, Basilan, Bataan, Batangas, Benguet, Biliran, Bohol, Bukidnon, Bulacan, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Cavite, Cebu, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Eastern Samar, Guimaras, Ifugao, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, La Union, Laguna, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, Metro Manila, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Mountain Province, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, North Cotabato, Northern Samar, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Quezon, Rizal, Romblon, Sorsogon, Southern Leyte, Sultan Kudarat, Surigao del Sur, Tarlac, Zambales, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay.
The decommissioning follows the tower sale announced by PLDT early this year. In April, PLDT announced a breakthrough sale and leaseback arrangement of 5,907 telecom towers as part of its strategic transformation to further invest and improve network operations.
PLDT remains the only telco provider in the Philippines that can deliver up to 10,000 Mbps fiber-optic service. Its PLDT Home unit provides the fastest internet to over 3.1 million fiber subscribers through its nation-widest infrastructure reaching over 803,000 kilometers, 15.5 million homes passed, and a total fiber capacity of 6.25 million ports. This fiber network also connects the nationwide wireless LTE and 5G network of PLDT and Smart, connecting each cell site to each other and to the core, and providing LTE and 5G coverage to customers from Batanes to Tawi-tawi.
