The Philippines' PLDT has started the final stage of its 1.3 billion peso ($29.7 million) fiber backbone network rollout, and expects to complete the deployment by the end of the year.
The operator's technology head Rolando Pena toldRappler that the company is currently completing deploying connections between Ilocos Norte and Tuguegarao in Cagayan Valley.
Once complete, the new connections will form part of PLDT's domestic fiber optic network (DFON), adding to its resiliency.
The network currently spans some 88,000km of terrestrial and subsea fiber cables over six major loops and four sub-loops.
PLDT has been working to ensure its national data transmission network is 100% underground, to make it more robust in the face of the Philippines' increasingly severe tropical storms, Pena said.
The company's provincial network is meanwhile currently around 50% underground, and the operator aims to increase this to 100% by the middle of next year.