PLDT's nationwide Digital Fiber Optic Network (DFON) was launched in 1998 and the result of a $197 million investment by the telecom conglomerate. Since then, PLDT has spent around $90 million in expanding into an IP-based network that can transmit voice, video and data services.
The DFON link to Baguio City, located in the northern province of Benguet, runs on two separate fiber optic cables with a 10 gigabit per second transmission bandwidth that can carry more than 120,000 voice calls, the company said.
'This is really not meant to meet current demand but to position Baguio City to invite more investments,' said Eric Alberto, PLDT Corporate Business Group head, in a news briefing held here Friday.
PLDT expects most of these investments to come from the lucrative business process outsourcing (BPO) business.
ClientLogic, the first call center to locate in Baguio City last year and a PLDT client, is expanding its current 850-seats capacity to 700 more and bring its total workforce to more than 2,000 agents, PLDT said.
At least one more major operator will open an expansion site in Baguio City, Alberto said. Texas Instruments, which operates a test and assembly facility in the mountain city, will also undertake a US$300 million expansion, he added.
PLDT has its own BPO/call center business under Ventus, which is part of the group's IT subsidiary ePLDT. Ventus is likewise keen on expanding to Baguio City, Alberto said.
By his own account, Alberto said PLDT is 'making a gamble' by embarking on its DFON project and extending it to cover key cities, including those in the Northern Luzon such as Laoag and Vigan in Ilocos, Tuguegarao in Cagayan and Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija.
'We are looking at opportunities to partner with the government and the private businessmen in these areas to take advantage of the capacity,' he said.