CLARK FREEPORT—PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications will be installing free high-speed Internet at 18 major airports and other public-transport hubs in the first 100 days of President Duterte, an official of the country’s leading telecommunications firm and multimedia-services provider said on August 19.
Eric Alberto, PLDT EVP and ePLDT president and CEO, said the PLDT Group, headed by Manuel V. Pangilinan, has an initial investment of P1 billion earmarked this year for the first phase of the nationwide deployment of Smart Wi-Fi, which will have a minimum backhaul of 1 gigabit.
Alberto said they will also install Wi-Fi at two major seaports, three lines of the Light Railway Transit (LRT) and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the country’s major gateway and the busiest. Next month, it will put Wi-Fi at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, which had 7.78 million passengers in 2015.
Asked by the BusinessMirror on what motivated PLDT-Smart to improve its services and expand its corporate social responsibility, Alberto said: “The Aquino administration had always been supportive of the PLDT Group. However, let me be very candid. It’s only in this regime and leadership of [President] Duterte that we managed to get a very clear direction and ease of access to be able to provide in public places like this airport [Clark], without much bureaucracy in nature.”
“And we welcome this kind of welcome development, by which private sector and government can partner in interest of serving the public,” he said.
Alberto said PLDT, which also controls Sun Cellular, would like to take part in the vision of the Duterte administration to improve Internet services, particularly its speed, for the benefit of the Filipinos. Even before he assumed his post on June 30, Mr. Duterte had been vocal in his desire to improve Internet services in the country.
On May 30, just before former President Benigno S. Aquino III ended his term, PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. announced the P69.1-billion deal to buy out the telecommunication assets of San Miguel Corp. (SMC). The assets will benefit people who use long-term evolution-based smartphones at no cost to them.
But the Philippine Competition Commission (PPC), which was established in the later part of the Aquino regime, stopped the deal and asked both firms to “comply” with the requirements of the commission.
PLDT and Globe contested the decision and order of the PCC. A case was filed and is now pending before the Court of Appeals (CA).
Alberto refused to comment on the progress of the case, citing “sub judice.”
In interview with Pampanga-based reporters on June 14 before PLDT filed legal cases, Pangilinan slammed the PCC’s move, stressing that it delays its desire to improve Internet services.
“There is too much bureaucracy. What is applicable in other countries, such as in Australia, may not be good for us here. We are doing our part to improve our services for the benefit of all,” a visibly irked Pangilinan said.
Mon Isberto, PLDT Smart’s head of Public Affairs, said earlier: “This position is entirely consistent with the fact that the telecommunications industry has been liberalized and open to competition since the mid-1990s. More important, it will help improve Internet services in the country and benefit businesses and consumers, especially those in rural areas.”
Alberto, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, Tourism Undersecretary for Air Bobby Lim, PLDT-Smart Vice President and Head of Enterprise Customer Operations Management Finina Gorres and newly installed officer-in-charge of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIA) former Angeles City, Pampanga, Councilor Alexander Cauguiran, attended the launch of the reinforcement of the data connectivity in the CIA to address the need for high-speed Internet in one of Luzon’s key gateways outside of Metro Manila.
Tugade praised the PLDT-Smart, adding that groups, including journalists, should not doubt the noble intention of the PLDT-Smart. He said other private groups can also install free Wi-Fi and at airports and other public-transport hubs.
“There is no exclusivity,” Tugade said. “Their tribe [business groups with noble intentions] should increase.”
The CIA is the seventh airport to be installed with Smart Wi-Fi nationwide, and the first in Luzon.
Asked about the speed of the Wi-Fi at the CIA, Gorres said: “It is 10 times faster compared to what you have in your homes.”
The service is already available in the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City; Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental; Bacolod-Silay International Airport in Silay City; Iloilo International Airport in Iloilo City; Roxas Airport in Roxas City; and Zamboanga Airport in Zamboanga City.
Soon, Smart Wi-Fi will also be reinforced in all four terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, as well as in the airports of Cebu, Dumaguete, Kalibo, Caticlan, General Santos, and Laoag.
The airport in Clark was identified by the DOT as one of 21 key transport hubs for installation of Smart Wi-Fi as outlined in a landmark agreement signed last month by Tugade and Pangilinan to strengthen data connectivity in airports, seaports, railways, train stations, and bus terminals across the country.
More high traffic areas such as city halls, schools, hospitals, and malls, among others, will be covered by the service over time amid the increasing demand for more public Wifi hotspots in the country.
“The deployment in airports is just the first phase of the nationwide rollout for Smart Wi-Fi as we address the need of consumers for more Wi-Fi hotspots amid rising smartphone penetration and data usage. With a bandwidth of up to 1 gigabit per second, Smart Wi-Fi users will get to enjoy a seamless digital experience whether surfing the web for their favorite sites, or keeping connected with home and office while travelling,” said Kat Luna-Abelarde, FVP and Wireless Consumer Operations Head at Smart.
The deployment is backed by the group’s robust and resilient wireless and fixed-line network infrastructure.
“The sustained deployment of Smart Wifi in key gateways like the Clark International Airport forms part of our commitment to bring the digital experience to more Filipinos by way of high-speed internet. This is also aligned with our Chairman’s vision of developing Clark as the alternate airport to the congested NAIA,” said the PLDT in a statement.