PLDT, Smart open integrated operations center

Telecommunications giant PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit, Smart Communications Inc., on Tuesday opened an Integrated Operations Center (IOC) in Makati City to further enhance their services.

The two-storey IOC houses both PLDT and Smart’s converged network teams.

The facility also has a 30-meter-wide video wall displaying various network dashboards, which enables PLDT and Smart's network teams to immediately identify areas affected by service outages, and proactively reach out to impacted customers, especially in the event of disasters and calamities. 

"With our investment in the PLDT-Smart IOC, which will oversee the operations and monitor the performance of the country's most extensive fiber infrastructure of PLDT and the wireless facilities of Smart, we are ensuring not only the topnotch experience of our customers on our network and with our services—we are also contributing greatly to helping the government realize its ambition to improve the country's digital infrastructure, making available the best of our technologies to put the Philippines [on] par with the rest of Asia and the world," said PLDT senior vice president Mario Tamayo, delivering a message on behalf of PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan.

For her part, PLDT-Smart head of network build and implementation Debbie Hu, delivering a message on behalf of PLDT and Smart president and CEO Alfredo Panlilio, said that “this Integrated Operations Center is just another concrete proof of that commitment, having built this facility with the goal of elevating customer experience."

In a news release, PLDT-Smart said its investment in the IOC was aligned with the group’s commitment to be at the forefront of innovation in the country.

PLDT recently unveiled the country's biggest data center, Vitro Sta Rosa, and inaugurated the Jupiter Cable System, a cable system between the Philippines, the United States and Japan.

Both facilities help strengthen the country's position as the next hyperscaler hub in the Asia-Pacific region, according to PLDT-Smart.

The telco said the establishment of the IOC was part of its continuous investment in its network, having spent P518.5 billion for the last 10 years up to 2021.

Network-related initiatives made up the bulk of the P89 billion spent for 2021. 

PLDT-Smart’s capital expenditure guidance for 2022 is P85 billion. —VBL, GMA News