CIGNAL PARTNERS WITH SMART TO POWER REMOTE AREAS WITH VSAT TECHNOLOGY

Cignal, the country’s largest Pay-TV and provider of Direct-To-Home satellite services was chosen by SMART Communications as its provider for satellite broadband services, a testament in Cignal’s expertise in providing satellite-based services across the country.

SMART is utilizing Cignal’s VSAT technology as a broadband backhaul in areas that are difficult to reach through land-based networks. By doing so, SMART Communications expands availability of broadband services for its subscribers in areas that have low to no data coverage.

More and more of our rural communities in coastal and highland municipalities are getting connected to the rest of the country as the world continues to use their smartphones for voice and data communications. SMART Communications, the largest and only integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines, is now better able to respond to our people’s clamor for a reliable, all-weather internet connectivity using Cignal’s VSAT service facilities.

To date, their VSAT service is active in select cell sites across the Philippines’ three island groups: from the archipelago province of Batanes, Calanasan and Kabugao in Apayao up north, to Kalayaan and San Vicente in Palawan, and down to the coastal areas municipalities in Tawi-Tawi and Basilan in Mindanao.

Cignal was also quick in taking action to support SMART to provide its all-weather broadband technology to affected communities critically hit by Typhoon Rolly back in November. One of the areas badly affected was the Bicol Region, in which Catanduanes province was placed under a state of calamity. The SMART and Cignal partnership paved the way to power ten (10) cell sites in the island province in order to assist communities in recuperating, while offering its residents broadband restoration to stay connected.

According to Cignal president and CEO Robert P. Galang, this partnership with SMART opens more doors for enterprise clients and communities in far-flung areas in need of better connectivity. “This partnership is aligned with our mission to address the national clamor for better broadband connectivity and giving access to quality (and uninterrupted) entertainment to the nation. We are hopeful that through our VSAT broadband service, and this joint effort with SMART, we are able to ease the lives of Filipinos moving forward,” Galang expressed.

With the archipelagic nature of the country and a population of more than 110 million stretched over vast seas and mountain ranges, SMART continues to utilize Cignal’s service to reach their consumers in these far-flung areas to provide a stable connection any time. As the current year comes to an end, Cignal’s partnership with SMART aims to ensure that all our people are provided with a secure internet connectivity that will be more resilient and reliable in whatever situation they may be in.