NGCP: Gov’t uses dark fiber network for free
By Alena Mae S. Flores – January 19, 2025, 7:20 pm
From manilastandard.net
National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said over the weekend no third party is using and benefiting from its dark fiber network except the government.
NGCP, the operator of the country’s transmission network, runs a network of dark fiber cables inherent to its transmission grid communication system.
The fiber optic network covers 6,154 kilometers or 160,779 fiber kilometers, running along its power transmission backbone which stretches all over the country’s main islands.
“Does NGCP have fiber optic? Yes. Do we use it to have our own telco? No. That is a program started by TransCo (National Transmission Corp.) because we need it to communicate with the substations throughout the Philippines because our network is isolated. Our substation is not dependent on Globe or PLDT or Converge or any third party provider for communications of our technical equipment,” NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Perez-Alabanza said.
Alabanza said NGCP is allowed under its concession agreement with the government to use the fiber optic network for commercial purpose.
“But the caveat in the law is that half of that income, if any, must be used to reduce transmission rates,” Alabanza said.
She said, however, NGCP does not allow the use of its fiber optic network to any third party except for the government.
She said the Department of Information and Communications Technology, TransCo and NGCP allowed the use of the dark fiber optic several years ago for the national broadband project.
“So, are there any third party users? Yes, government. Does the government pay NGCP for that? No. NGCP gave our broadband, dark fiber equipment to the government for free and freely. In fact, currently, the government, the DICT is building its connection assets at the NGCP facility,” Alabanza said.
NGCP signed an agreement with DICT in 2017 allowing the use of its fiber optic network for the national broadband program to help bring the country’s average internet speed close to first-world countries.
