PLDT teams up with Nokia to build 5G private wireless networks for businesses
PLDT has reportedly tapped Nokia to provide 5G private wireless network solutions to its corporate customers, as the Philippine telco operator further expands its reach into the lucrative enterprise market in line with its ongoing efforts to acquire new subscribers across all market segments.
Local media said Tuesday that Nokia has entered a memorandum of understanding with PLDT's enterprise business unit to deliver 5G private wireless network solutions to businesses across the country, particularly in the manufacturing, mining and ports industries.
The goal is to help these companies improve their customer experience and operational efficiency.
To date, Nokia has deployed 5G networks to more than 730 customers across the world, building high bandwidth and low latency solutions for several industries.
"Our collaboration with Nokia enables Filipino businesses to experience ultra-reliable low latency communication, faster data speeds, and the ability to connect a massive number of devices simultaneously," Joseph Ian Gendrano, PLDT senior vice president and head of enterprise, said in a statement issued to local media.
Enabling Industry 4.0 transformation
With this latest partnership with Nokia, PLDT hopes to help corporate customers to build dedicated, secure, high-bandwidth and ultra-low-latency networks for real-time Industry 4.0 applications.
"This means enhanced capabilities for real-time data analytics, remote monitoring, and control of equipment, which are essential for automating industrial processes and improving operational efficiency," he added.
PLDT sees huge revenue potential in its enterprise segment, which brought in 12.1 billion Philippine pesos in the first quarter of 2024 (US$205.58 million), from PHP11.8 billion ($200.58 million) a year ago.
The operator gets the majority of its enterprise income from corporate data. Between January and March, it earned PHP8.6 billion ($146.18 million) from this segment due to increasing connectivity usage of business clients.
Nokia has been on a roll in the Philippines in the last few weeks. The Finnish network equipment vendor was also chosen by Globe Telecom to supply its Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) to replace the operator's legacy assets. The network infrastructure upgrade would enable Globe Telecom to integrate fixed and wireless access.
