More households in different parts of the country will soon be able to avail of faster internet services through fiber-optic cables after telecommunications giant PLDT on Wednesday announced its plans to roll out more fiber lines and ports nationwide.

In a statement, Alfredo Panlilio, PLDT chief revenue officer, said the company will install more fiber lines and provide around 500,000 more ports in the next three to six months to meet the country’s rising demand for high-speed internet connectivity.

“Broadband connectivity is more important than ever, particularly in these pandemic times when more people are directed to work and study from home. That’s why PLDT is ramping up its capabilities to be able to serve more Filipinos nationwide,” Panlilio said.

He said the company has deployed more installation and repair teams in different parts of the country to implement the rollout.

“PLDT is rolling out more fiber, more ports in more parts of the Philippines than it has ever done before because we want to connect as many Filipino families as we possibly can to our fiber network,” Panlilio said.

Menardo Jimenez Jr., PLDT senior vice president for PLDT Home, said the company’s network service teams are now more capable of adapting to the challenges brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic-related restrictions.

“PLDT’s network service teams have worked out how to operate under pandemic conditions and have been able to steadily ramp up their installation capacity,” Jimenez said.

He noted that the pandemic has resulted in a “notable” spike of service upgrade and new installation requests.

“The pandemic has compelled people to redesign life at home. Many of these changes involve greater use of the internet and digital solutions to make work, study, and leisure at home more efficient and enjoyable,” Jimenez said.

To date, the company has also invested in the modernization of its overseas cable systems and domestic fiber transport network which includes the company’s data centers.

Its fiber-optic network grew 19 percent for the last 10 months and stretches to about 382,500 kilometers. (PNA)