Smart leads in video, 4G, download/upload speed experiences nationwide

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – Smart Communications Inc. continues to lead in Video, 4G availability, Download and Upload Speed Experiences in the Philippines, including the Central, Eastern and Western Visayas regions based on an independent analysis of mobile measurements recorded during the period July 1 – September 28, 2020 according to Opensignal Awards-Philippines: Mobile Network Experience Report November 2020.

“In our first look at the Philippines at the regional level, Smart has walked away with the vast majority of awards, winning in 17 regions outright for both Video Experience and Upload Speed

Experience with outright wins in 14 and 13 regions for Download Speed Experience and 4G Availability, respectively,” Opensignal said.

As the country’s largest integrated telco company, PLDT and Smart are committed to boosting

businesses and customer experience in areas like Cebu with LTE as the best technology to help bring fast, reliable, and affordable wireless data connectivity, improving lives especially ofsubscribers residing in far-flung areas.

The network’s overall improvement has been felt in far-flung areas like Linut-od, Argao in Cebu, which is deemed as an impressive feat despite the unusual time of global health pandemic.

According to Smart that at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the role of telemedicine was underscored especially in presenting a more systematic approach in diagnosing, monitoring, and treating patients with COVID-19 virus or other medical conditions.

Dr. Stanley Caminero operates a satellite charity clinic in Linut-od, Argao, and has utilized Telemedicine to treat his patients.  “Telemedicine greatly benefits the patients. I have patients who live in mountainous barangays, so through this, they were able save their energy and money from travelling great lengths just get themselves checked,” Caminero said.

He bared that the pandemic has cemented the role of telemedicine in addressing health concerns of the public. The power of technology has made it possible. The communication between the doctor and the patient is made convenient and updating has been real-time.

Caminero’s patients living in the mountains of Linut-od, Argao have appreciated the convenience of telemedicine especially during those months where lockdowns were imposed by the government to minimize the transmission of the virus.

 This was made possible by the LTE-powered site fired up in Linut-od, Argao in 2019.

Underpinning this performance is PLDT’s fiber network, the most extensive in the country now at 422,000 kilometers. This fiber infrastructure supports Smart’s mobile networks which serve 96 percent of the population.