SIMILAR to the sci-fi movie starring Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum where our imagination of ultra high tech was brought to a new dimension, PLDT, headed by businessman and philanthropist Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP), recently launched Jupiter, a game changing telecommunications infrastructure that will bring the Philippines at par with the rest of the world.
Having the latest telecommunication infrastructure comparable with other countries has become critical as more enterprises — regardless of size and scale — pivot toward a digital economy amid the global health crisis.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in his first State of the Nation Address (SoNA), even emphasized the importance of universal connectivity in ensuring that no Filipino is left behind.
He added the need to maximize the potential of these innovations in improving the customer experience when transacting business with the national government and/or local government units.
President Marcos also laid the groundwork for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to roll out the government’s digital connectivity program across the archipelago.
And just a few days after the President’s SoNA, PLDT Inc., the country’s largest integrated telecommunications company, fired up its Jupiter cable system — the country’s latest and fastest direct cable system that connects the Philippines to the US and Japan.
Jupiter, which spans 14,000 kilometers of submarine fiber optic cable from the US, Japan and the Philippines, immensely boosts PLDT’s international data capacity and expands the digital infrastructure needed to spur economic growth.
Jupiter is among the most critical components of the telecommunications backbone that connects the Philippines with the rest of the world.
PLDT President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio underscored Jupiter’s importance in helping shape and enhance the country’s digital economy. “Our investment in Jupiter will exponentially boost the Philippines’ international capacity, ramp up the global trade of digital services, and propel the nation’s digital economy while increasing Internet speed and reliability for Filipinos,” he added.
Jupiter responds to the growing demand for digital services and next-generation technologies that supports data-driven industries with global operations and high-bandwidth requirements, such as business process outsourcing (BPO), multinationals’ communications requirements and global hyperscalers.
Jupiter increases PLDT’s international capacity from about 20 Terabits per second to about 60 Terabits per second. It also enhances the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination to foreign investors, a very critical factor to obtain growth.
Jupiter also improves the current telecommunication infrastructure to support the growing data requirements of BPOs in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.
PLDT has extensive participation in 16 international submarine cable networks and operates the most extensive fiber optic among local internet service providers at 803,000 kilometers connecting the entire Philippines with fiber connectivity and powering local economies and communities.
The growing demand for reliable and high-speed connectivity among enterprises has prompted PLDT to expand and invest in new international cable infrastructures to improve its network’s capacity and resilience in delivering unparalleled Internet service to its customers. In the next two years, PLDT targets to complete and launch two more major international cable systems — the Asia Direct Cable and the APRICOT cable systems.
While the global pandemic may have resulted in lockdowns that limited the physical movement of goods and people, e-commerce and rich media content, among others, grew at an accelerated pace in the last two years.
And with the Philippines and other countries adapting to the new normal and flourishing in a digital economy, public and private sector partnerships in telecommunication infrastructure projects are vital in growing markets beyond borders and connecting Filipinos with the rest of the world.