HyalRoute Group, a fiber infrastructure company based in Singapore, announced that they’ve made an initial investment of USD500 (around Php24.9 billion) for the construction of the Philippines’ fiber internet backbone project.
The substantial investment will help complete a portion of the said project through an agreement with the Philippine government.
As per Hendrick Huang of the Philippines Fiber Optic Cable Network (PFOCN), HyalRoute’s subsidiary in the Philippines, this project will help bring cheaper and faster internet in more areas in the Philippines, especially in more rural places within the next two years.
Huang also said that they plan to finish around 16,000km of fiber lines before 2021 ends.
This is just part of the long plan to invest USD3 billion (around Php150 billion) to create 60,000km of internet backbone across the country.
PFOCN is owned by HyalRoute, which also builds and operates fiber networks in neighboring countries like Cambodia and Myanmar.
HyalRoute’s Philippine subsidiary has already signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Information and Communications (DICT) for its Philippine rollout.
A representative from the company said they will be a passive infrastructure provider. Hence, there’s no need for a congressional franchise to build and maintain a network.
PFOCN added that they don’t have partners in the Philippines but did confirm that they signed an MOA with Now telecom Co. Inc previously.
The said fiber network will benefit the government’s National Broadband Program and the 5G expansion of PLDT–Smart and Globe Telecom.
After the agreement was signed with the DICT back in 2019, PFOCN claims that the national fiber network will have its completion in different phases until 2028.
People in Mindanao, in Palawan, in Baguio, Tuguegarao, other middle level cities like Tarlac—all those cities will have internet access that is on a par with or close to what we have in Manila right now,
Hendrick Huang, Executive Deputy Managing Director of Philippines Fiber Optic Cable Network (PFOCN),
Via: Inquirer