By Emmie V. Abadilla

The Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (PT&T) is reviving its operations as it sets its sights on becoming the country’s third telco player.

“We believe PT&T is in an ideal position to vie for the third telco slot given its technical expertise, solid track record and infrastructure to back it up,” declared James Velasquez, the company’s new President and Chief Executive Officer.

Already, PT&T has operated as a full service telco in the wired and wireless space for over five decades.

It has established the first national digital backbone in 1980 and pioneered messaging as well as the country’s first broadband service in 2001.

Furthermore, the company holds a 25-year franchise, which allows it to establish, maintain and operate both wired and wireless telecommunications systems for domestic and international communication in the Philippines.

PT&T likewise operates a new multi 10+ GBPS (Gigabytes per second) broadband network in the National Capital Region, Cebu, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

Its existing, scalable network and infrastructure, spanning over 1,000 km. of pure fiber optic cables, allows it to meet the network demands of customers in the Greater Manila area, northern and southern Luzon and Cebu regions.

“PT&T plans on expanding its pure fiber footprint outside Metro Manila through its enterprise broadband offering as well as service the residential market within this year,” according to Renato Garcia, another new member of the company’s Board of Directors.

“Targeting both the residential and business segments is a plan we are keen on executing regardless of the third telco player outcome,” he added.

At present, PT&T’s broadband service is available in the Greater Manila Area, Northern and Southern Luzon.

Interestingly, PT&T elected two new members to its board of directors, Velasquez and Garcia, as part of its business strategy to become the country’s third major telco player.

Velasquez has replaced Benjamin M. Bitanga while Garcia took over from Gerardo de Leon as directors of PT&T.

Velasquez is an experienced leader in the information technology (IT) industry.

Before joining PT&T, he spent nearly three decades at IBM, where he worked in various capacities and was the President and Country Manager for IBM Philippines.

He was responsible for the overall IBM business operations in the country and led the company to significant growth in both domestic and global offshore services.

Velasquez, a graduate of Electronics and Communications Engineering from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, is currently a Senior Executive for IBM Global Technology Services, Asia Pacific.

He has received the CEO (Communications Excellence) ExCEL Award – ICT Awards 2011, Fastest Growing BPO in the Philippines, UST Engineering Centennial Awardee for Industry/Management, UST TOTAL Award and UST Engineering Hall of Fame Award.

On the other hand, prior to his election as director of PT&T, Garcia was involved in telecommunications industry and information technology in various capacities for the past 44 years.