DIGITAL services provider PLDT Inc. will be aggressive in developing its network not only to improve the speed of its Internet services, but also to deliver quality customer experience, according to company officials.
Alfredo S. Panlilio, who sits as chief revenue officer at the company, said his group will continue to provide better customer experience to reclaim the market share it lost to its sole competitor.
“Obviously Globe is not sleeping. We’re also aggressive to make sure we do better than them. Yes, we need to worry about the new telco coming in,” he said in a recent interview.
Dito Telecommunity, a third telco, is expected to launch its services this year. It has been partnering with various tech companies to build its network and deliver on its promise of at least 27 Mbps of Internet speed for its first year.
When asked if his group will at least match that speed, Panlilio said speed is not king—customer experience is.
“Obviously we’re not gonna sit on that, and we want to make sure that our customers are happy with our service. At the end of the day, it’s not just the speed—it’s the actual experience. That’s the more critical point,” Panlilio said.
He noted that his group will have to continue on investing in new technologies and start ramping up its network in order to deliver better customer experience.
“We can’t be premature, but we have to be preemptive. We have to be ready,” he said. “We just have to focus on what we need to do. We need to make customers happy, give them better services.”
For 2020, the group plans to deploy 4G on all its base stations nationwide. It is also expected to launch its first 5G mobile product.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, the company’s chairman, said last month that 5G will take a “substantial” amount of PLDT’s capital expenditures (capex) for 2020.
The company is selling a few assets which will allow the firm to rake in “several billions of pesos” to fund its capital expenditures for 2020. Last year, the company’s planned capital outlays amounted to P78.4 billion.
Pangilinan said his group has already received bids for Smart Tower in Ayala, and is also putting up for sale three other properties, all of which he did not name.
The company is also selling its remaining shares in German tech company Rocket Internet, in which it has about 2-million shares left.
PLDT has been developing its 5G products for the past two years, partnering with different vendors to test out the best fit for its network and the demands of its Filipino consumers. So far, it has tied up with different groups to create the Smart 5G Alliance.
5G is seen to enable machine-to-machine communication via mobile. Its use cases worldwide span in different industries, such as retail, transport, manufacturing, logistics and warehousing sectors, as well as intelligent solutions for customer support and smart homes, among others.