The signing ceremonies marking the collaboration were led by Marikina City Mayor Marcelino R. Teodoro (center) with Vice Mayor Marion Andres (2nd from right) and PLDT and Smart executives (L-R) Gia Palafox, First Vice President and Group Head of Regional Customer Development for NCR; Alex O. Caeg, Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Sales Group; and Jane Jimenez-Basas, Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart.
Leading mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has partnered with Marikina City to roll out fast, reliable, and secure Smart WiFi in the city’s key areas, enhancing connectivity for Marikeños.
Fiber-powered Smart WiFi will be deployed in high foot-traffic locations, particularly in Marikina’s barangay halls, City Hall, Freedom Park, and Public Market, enabling access to strong and reliable Internet service. This is in addition to the Smart WiFi facilities already working in selected Marikina barangays.
Alongside rolling out free Smart WiFi, Smart has also fired up 5G base stations across the city to ensure world-class network experience, helping drive economic growth and development in the city.
The signing ceremonies marking the collaboration were led by Marikina City Mayor Marcelino R. Teodoro, Vice Mayor Marion Andres and PLDT and Smart executives Jane Jimenez-Basas, Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart; Alex O. Caeg, Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Sales Group; Gia Palafox, First Vice President and Group Head of Regional Customer Development for NCR; and Allan Nikko Galvez, Vice President and Department Head of Consumer WiFi and Mobile Advertising.
Mayor Teodoro hailed the program as Marikina’s first city-wide WiFi project. “I strongly believe that a digital government is a better government,” Teodoro said, adding that Marikina’s digitization initiatives cover management of critical and priority programs, particularly in disaster and health crisis management.
“We are honored to work with Marikina City in delivering this essential service to Marikeños. We believe that through collaborations like this, and our shared purpose of nation-building powered by good governance, we can overcome this crisis,” said Caeg, noting that Smart is rolling out additional Smart WiFi access points in support of RA No. 10929 or the “Free Internet Access in Public Places Act.”
“We are committed to connect as many people as possible, especially in this era where Internet connectivity is already like oxygen, and is essential in ensuring economic growth,” said Basas.
“This is just the beginning of a long partnership. Our mission is to transform Marikina into a “Smart Fiber City” through fiberization of its barangays,” Palafox said.
This initiative to deploy of Smart WiFi, 5G, and fiber across the country is in line with the PLDT Group’s long-standing commitment to help the Philippines attain the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG #9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure and SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
