For delivering the best customer experience amid accelerated data traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic, PLDT Inc. is up for Operator of the Year at the 2021 Asia Communication Awards (ACA). In addition, PLDT is also shortlisted for Best Crisis Response for its corporate business unit PLDT Enterprise’s Smart Tracker Medical Frontliners Transportation Solution, while its subsidiaries Smart Communications, Inc. and PLDT Global were also shortlisted for Best Social Contribution for its FarmSmart agriculture advocacy, and Innovation Award, respectively.
Launched in 2011 by London-based industry publication Total Telecom, ACA recognizes Asia's leading communication service providers and telecom operators.
PLDT’s Operator of the Year bid highlights the company’s network modernization program. PLDT’s fiber infrastructure, the Philippines’ most extensive at over 615,000 kilometers, also supports its wireless subsidiary Smart’s rollout of 5G technology alongside its existing LTE network, deploying around 6,400 5G base stations nationwide. To date, Smart’s mobile network covers 96% of the Philippine population from the northernmost province of Batanes in Luzon to the southernmost province of Tawi-Tawi in Mindanao.
Complementing this fixed and wireless network rollout is Smart’s deployment of free fiber-powered Smart WiFi in key airports, seaports, government offices, COVID-19 facilities, and hospitals nationwide. Supporting local infrastructure, PLDT has 16 terabits per second in capacity running along its 15 major international cable systems, catering to the massive data traffic going in and out of the country.
Under Best Crisis Response, PLDT Enterprise is nominated for its collaboration with the country’s Department of Transportation. Deployed at the height of mobility restrictions caused by the pandemic, the Smart Tracker Medical Frontliners Transportation Solution is used for tracking buses that went through over 20 routes and hospitals for medical workers to travel safely around in Metro Manila, with a route view accessible via www.Sakay.Ph.
Meanwhile, Smart’s nomination for Best Social Contribution covers the Digital Farmers Program and BuyLocal, which aim to help create future-ready and prosperous Filipino farmers through technology, innovation, and collaboration. With partners from the country’s Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Training Institute, social enterprise Cropital, and other companies headed by PLDT Chairman Manuel V Pangilinan, FarmSmart initiatives have benefitted over 4,000 farmers and agriculture workers to-date.
PLDT Global is shortlisted in the Innovation Award – Operator subcategory for its mobile application Free Bee, which delivers value for money through call plans that allow overseas Filipinos to stay in touch with their loved ones wherever they are in the world. PLDT Global was also lauded for continuously improving PLDT’s international voice services, thereby delivering better quality voice calls to millions of migrant Filipinos who need to stay close to home.
Winners of the 10th ACA 2021 will be announced on December 14 via a virtual ceremony to be hosted by Total Telecom from London.
