PLDT resumes talks to sell stake in data center unit

TELECOMMUNICATIONS company PLDT Inc. has resumed talks to sell a stake in its data center business, after previously shelving a $1-billion deal.

“We have been approached lately by interested parties… they are a big multinational and are also listed,” PLDT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s financial briefing last week.

Mr. Pangilinan declined to identify the company but said that nothing is final yet.

“I think this time we are serious about selling a stake in data centers,” he said.

PLDT had previously announced plans to finalize the sale of its data center unit, ePLDT Inc., to a foreign entity for over $1 billion after talks with Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) failed to progress.

However, Mr. Pangilinan later said that the company had shelved the plan as it intended to continue expanding its data center assets.

In April, PLDT inaugurated VITRO Sta. Rosa, its 11th data center.

The facility, located on a five-hectare site in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, is said to be the country’s largest data center campus, with a capacity of up to 50 megawatts (MW). Across all sites, VITRO data centers have a combined capacity of nearly 100 MW.

The company also said it is moving closer to building its 12th and largest data center. The facility will rise in General Trias, Cavite, and will have a capacity of up to 100 MW — double that of VITRO Sta. Rosa.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., holds a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Ashley Erika O. Jose