To ensure that the public has access to right and up-to-date information amid the concerns over COVID-19, PLDT provided free access to government and news websites for PLDT Home WiFi and PLDT Home volume based plans.
PLDT and its wireless subsidiary, Smart Communications, also supported the Department of Health and the 911 National Emergency Hotline of the Department of Interior and Local Government for the launch of a hotline for COVID-19 concerns.
The access numbers for the DOH COVID-19 emergency hotline are 02894-COVID or 02-894-26843, and, 1555. The hotline number 02894-COVID or 02-894-26843 is open to all callers nationwide. The hotline number 1555 is initially accessible only to PLDT, Smart, Sun, and TNT subscribers.
Earlier, Smart also provided free access to the websites of the Department of Health, particularly its COVID-19 Tracker; and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Empowering communities
Empowering all sectors nationwide, PLDT and Smart also continuously provide constant connectivity among employees, customers, and enterprises to ensure that work-from-home arrangements and communications are underway.
PLDT-Smart Foundation and Smart turn over satellite phones, load credits and anti-bacterial sanitizing dispensers to the Department of Tourism in Boracay.
PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan issued a statement about the Group’s efforts to support its employees amid the COVID-19 crisis. “We are helping our employees by maintaining their salaries and benefits during the crisis. We have asked them to Work from Home,” Pangilinan said.
Carrier-grade, fiber-powered Smart WiFi is also available at several hospitals and transportation systems such as buses and trains in Metro Manila.
PLDT-Smart Foundation, in partnership with Smart, also turned over satellite phones, load credits, and anti-bacterial sanitizing dispensers to the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Boracay. Moreover, Smart also turned over phones and load credits to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). Furthermore, Smart also provided a connectivity platform in General Santos for COVID-19 monitoring.
Frontline health workers from the V. Luna Hospital receive the grocery packs from MVP Group’s Tulong Kapatid.
Tulong Kapatid, the corporate social responsibility consortium of the MVP Group, deployed over 1,000 grocery packs to the families of frontline health workers at V. Luna Hospital and the frontline Armed Forces of the Philippines checkpoint officers.
Delivering quality consumer experience
To provide assistance to its customers, PLDT and Smart placed a 30-day payment extension period for all postpaid customers of PLDT Home, PLDT Enterprise, Smart & Sun Postpaid.
To ensure a seamless work and study from home arrangement, PLDT also provided a speed boost for Fibr subscribers in which the minimum speed will be 25 Mbps until April 30, 2020. This will be applied to residents of Metro Manila and parts of Greater Manila including Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.
