Festival goers and tourists can explore this year’s celebration more with the Philippines’ fastest mobile network Smart Communications, Inc (Smart). With an extensive LTE network and data offers that are designed for social media apps, locals and guests can share the sights and sounds as they participate in the various on-ground activities in and around Iloilo City.
As co-presenter this year, Smart has also teamed up with the local government to serve the digital needs of the festivalgoers, locals and organizers. This includes providing super speed connectivity via Smart WiFi in all judging areas of the festival, particularly in the areas of the Freedom Grandstand, Iznart-Solis Street, Valeria-Ledesma Street, and Ma. Clara during the weeklong festivities.
Revelers are also invited to join more of the festivities happening on January 24 and 25 at the Viva Music Festival and on Jan 25 for the TNT Concert Night. To level up their festival experiences, Smart and TNT customers are encouraged to upgrade their SIMs and devices to LTE, and register to Giga Stories, which includes free Instagram and Facebook access—making it easier for them to share more of their festival stories.
Travel Smart
Visitors can also explore top tourist spots using the Iloilo digital guide apps powered by Smart. As part of the telco company’s #TravelSmart Digital tourism campaign, these apps feature places to visit, restaurants to try out, heritage information, cultural trivia, and local emergency numbers. In line with the PLDT group’s sustainability efforts, Smart is also installing environmentally friendly merchandising and promotional materials and has committed to work closely with the local governments overseeing the festivals in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, in the proper disposal of these materials.
Nationwidest Network
Underpinning Smart’s network deployment is the continued expansion of PLDT’s fiber infrastructure, which grew by 26% versus end-2018 to more than 307,000 kilometers nationwide. This unmatched fiber infrastructure is a critical advantage for Smart. For this level of performance, Smart has been cited by independent analytics firms for providing superior network quality.
According to Opensignal, Smart provides the country’s Best Video Experience, Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience and Latency Experience, and provides superior 4G/LTE availability across the country. Meanwhile, Ookla, the global leader in internet testing and analysis, also found that PLDT and Smart delivered the country’s fastest fixed and mobile data speeds for the first half of 2019, as they continued to widen their respective leads over their competitors.
The sustained improvement of the PLDT-Smart network has been supported by a stepped-up capital expenditures program that includes investments in network and IT systems, including investments in increased LTE coverage and capacity, expanded fiber transport and new international cable networks.
