PLDT to subscribers: Expect slow broadband speeds after one of three int'l cables suffers cuts

MANILA - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) on Friday said its subscribers may experience slow broadband speeds because of multiple cable cuts in its undersea international cable facilities.

In a text message, PLDT spokesperson Ramon Isberto said the Asia Pacific Cable Network (APCN) suffered from cuts. The Philippines' largest telecom company is a member of the APCN consortium.

"The fiber break is located between China and Korea and between Taiwan and Japan. Some PLDT cable capacity was affected but we still have sufficient capacity to carry our traffic because we have two other international cable systems - AAG (Asia-America Gateway) and ASE (Asia Submarine cable Express," Isberto said.

In an advisory, PLDT said its engineers are working with the company's international partners to normalize service as soon as possibleâ¨"The estimated time of restoration is on the first or second week of April," PLDT said.

"We apologize for inconvenience this situation may have caused you ," it added.

The PLDT group's combined broadband subscriber base stood at 3.4 million. Smart Broadband Inc had a wireless broadband subscriber base of over 1.9 million, of which 1.4 million were on prepaid service, while Sun Cellular had 545,000.

PLDT’s fixed broadband subscribers increased by eight percent, bringing the total count to 962,000, representing 47 percent of the fixed line subscriber base. -- InterAksyon.com