To address the gaps in the country’s home broadband internet connectivity, Globe is aggressively rolling out fiber to homes. Fiber connectivity provides a faster and more stable internet experience. As of August this year, Globe has increased by 51.4% its fiber rollouts compared to full-year 2019, and the company’s efforts continue to ramp up.
Globe put up additional fiberized lines on key locations including Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Cebu, and Davao del Sur. Globe started offering its customers to move to fiber connections, free of charge.
In the Visayas region, the fiber rollouts are highest in Cebu, while Davao Del Sur has been the recipient of aggressive builds in Mindanao. These efforts were made despite the challenges of more than seven months of varying quarantine protocols brought by the COVID-19 pandemic all over the country.
“We are complementing our aggressive mobile network upgrades with similar determination when it comes to our fiber to home efforts. In highly urbanized areas, where it is a challenge to build more cell towers, fiber will be key in giving our customers better internet experience as we move towards becoming a truly digital nation,” said Joel Agustin, Globe Senior Vice President for Program Delivery, Network Technical Group.
In the National Capital Region, Agustin added that Manila, Quezon City and Caloocan City topped the list of most areas covered with fiber lines followed by Pasig, Taguig, Las Pinas, Valenzuela, Makati, Paranaque and Pasay City to round up the top 10 cities.
“Expanding our fiber footprint to penetrate homes and residential areas will fill the gap on home broadband access. This will definitely improve experience now that more Filipino households rely on the internet for their work, education, entertainment and other essential needs,” Agustin added.
Compared to the obsolete copper cables, fiber optic internet sends data faster, at much higher bandwidths. It is delivered on a dedicated line, which facilitates a more consistent experience.
It is also immune to many of the conditions that copper cables are susceptible to. Moreover, fiber optic internet is less likely to have service disruptions.
Accelerating fiber rollout to homes is part of the 3-pronged strategy of Globe to improve data experience and network performance. The ramp-up of fiberization efforts will be done progressively until 2021.