It’s record expenditure for the telco

PLDT will be setting aside at least Php 50 billion for capital expenditure next year, which will be spent on improving its network amid the looming entry of a third telco in the country.

“We will announce a historic high capex next year, north of P50 billion,” PLDT Chairman, President and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on Wednesday.

PDLT’s capital spending for 2018 is a record high for the company, which is a lot more than this year’s budget of Php 38 billion. The record capital spending will be used to finance the company’s network expansion as well as improvement of mobile and fixed line services.

“We’ll make sure that we’ll future-proof our network,” Pangilinan said, in case China Telecom does enter the Philippine market.

Earlier this month, the government has announced that China selected China Telecom to become the third telco player in the Philippines. President Duterte has also ordered both the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to expedite the third telco’s entry, and instructed both agencies to ensure that the third telco player will be up and about by the first quarter of 2018.

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