MANILA, Philippines -- 24 February 2000 -- Skycable, the leading provider of cable services in the Philippines, is rocking the cable industry with its Cisco-powered cable solutions, enabling the Lopez-owned company to offer fast Internet access to its subscribers.
In a press conference held recently in Makati City, company officials said that the acquisition of Cisco Systems' uBR7246 (universal broadband router) has paved the way for the launch of the Skycable's Zpdee. Under this setup, Zpdee subscribers will be able to download all programs available online at high speed, including video material from short documentaries to full- length films without using a telephone line.
"We've been previously limited to narrowband Internet access. The deployment of Cisco uBR will enable us to offer broadband Internet access," Joy Santos, Marketing Manager of Skycable said.
Santos added that this will also enable Skycable to reinforce its lead in the cable TV market. "We will get to bolster our market share as we expect customers of other cable TV providers to make the big switch to us with our high-speed Internet access offering."
"With our strengthened service, our competitors in the industry will have to scramble to match our competitive advantage." She added. "They simply have to keep up with us. While some of our competitors have their own broadband offering, the value- added services that we have built into our service makes us head and shoulders above the competition."
"We are very excited about our partnership with Skycable as it clearly illustrates our leadership in providing solutions for New World service providers. Skycable will be able to deploy exciting new services for its subscribers in the country," said Noel Rivera, Cisco Systems Philippines Country Manager.
Skycable's Santos added: "Cisco was the perfect choice since the networking leader is already very experienced in the field of IP-based applications. Cisco knows IP. Cisco has also proven itself as a staunch supporter of open solutions, a key requirement that we have specified and required. This also sets us apart from our competitors who have chosen propriety products."
The Cisco uBR7246 brings value to the digital broadband by enabling the cost- effective deployment of advanced routing capabilities deep into the cable network and providing a universal platform for deployment of both current and future modem technologies via modular upgrades while protecting the operators invested capital.
In addition, it supports both two-way and telephone return modems on a single downstream channel, therefore allowing both one-way and two-way cable plants to provide cable modem service and give cable operators the flexibility to roll out service in systems that are only partially upgraded to two-way.
Meanwhile, the Zpdee service features value-added services like TUCOWS mirror, e-mail, news, and chat services. TUCOWS collates updated versions of programs that are commonly downloaded by web surfers. The TUCOWS mirror is not available in any other cable Internet company.
This service will be initially offered to Sky cable subscribers in Metro Manila, beginning with Makati and Pasig.
About Skycable
Sky Vision, incorporated on March 25, 1991 and started commercial operations on February 1, 1992, is the market leader in the local cable industry. Aside from Metro Manila, it provides cable television services to places like Cebu, Iloilo, Baguio, General Santos, Tagum, Naga, Cavite, Ilocos Region, Pangasinan, and Bulacan through its cable operator subsidiaries.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at http://www.cisco.com.
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