PLDT opens Mindanao’s 1st data center

DAVAO CITY - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) yesterday launched the first data center in Mindanao and the telco's eighth in the country. It will soon operate two more facilities in Clark and expand its Cebu data center, bringing the PLDT Group's data center count to ten, with over 9,000 rack capacity - the largest nationwide.

This is part of PLDT's strategy to meet a double digit growth target for its enterprise and home revenues this year, which could total roughly R77 billion to R80 billion.

"We expect to have R7 billion to R10 billion additional revenues for both our enterprise and home businesses for 2017, accounting for half of our total revenue pie, "PLDT Chief Revenue Officer and ePLDT President and CEO Eric R. Alberto yesterday told reporters.

Already, the telco expects its enterprise business revenues to contribute about R35 billion for the whole of 2016, with home revenues contributing an almost equal amount, R35 billion, he noted. Definitely, the two businesses will contribute higher for the telco's 2017 revenue pie, the executive confirmed.

"Over the short term, enterprise and home will be as prominent (revenue contributors) as our wireless business, as the world grows ever more mobile and more people adopt smartphones as the price of gadgets go down," he pointed out. The telco just hopes there will be no further erosion on its wireless revenues so it can sustain its heavy capital expansion for its mobile data business.

In Davao City, PLDT just completed three major ICT projects as part of last year's R48 billion 2016 capex – its fourth cable landing station linking Mindanao to its international gateways in Nasugbu, Batangas; Bauang, La Union and Daet, Camarines Norte, along with an innovation laboratory (Innolab) and the latest VITRO Data Center.