MANILA - PLDT Inc said Friday it would boost 5G investments in 2021 to further improve customer experience.

Investments include expansion of fiber network that reached 395,000 kilometers as of end-September, the telco said in a statement. The network supports both PLDT and Smart Communications, it said.

“As we complete the build-out of our 4G network so that our coverage will be as close as possible to 100 percent, we are building out our 5G network as well,” said PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

PLDT said Smart LTE currently covers 95 percent of the population.

• Smart 'super-fast' 5G goes 'live' as commercial service on July 30: PLDT

Connectivity is crucial as Filipinos spend more time at home for work and school, Pangilinan said.

Meanwhile, 5G will further improve mobile data experience especially for videos, Smart president and CEO and PLDT chief revenue officer Alfredo Panlilio said.

“The major driver for business today is data. Seventy two percent of our revenues now is on data. From a video consumption point of view, I think it will make the experience much better," he said.

These network initiatives are part of the group's sustained investments totalling P260 billion from 2015 to 2019. PLDT said its capital expenditures for 2020 were "leveled up" to P70 billion or more.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier urged telcos to improve services by the end of the year. The Bayanihan to Recover as One law has a provision streamlining the permitting process for tower builds to hasten construction of telco infrastructure.

• PLDT says Smart accelerates tower rollout, aims to improve coverage

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