PLDT to provide communications linkages for 12th Asean Summit

The country’s biggest telecommunications group Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) will provide vital communication linkages and services during the 12th ASEAN Summit from Dec. 11 to 14, 2006, in Cebu, to help ensure the success of this event, PLDT officials announced.

To be attended by 18 heads of state and around 3,000 delegates, officials and media practitioners, the four-day summit has huge communications requirements. To support these needs, PLDT has installed state-of-the-art broadband and redundant facilities in the following major summit venues: Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa, Waterfront Lahug Hotel, Marco Polo Hotel and Plantation Bay.

It is also working on the installation of facilities at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport .

"We are honored to help the country host the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu ," said PLDT and Smart president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno. "The entire PLDT Group has joined hands to provide the Summit the required telecommunications support through our full range of products and services–fixed, mobile and Internet."

As part of its preparations, PLDT has installed next generation network (NGN) facilities in various event sites. To ensure continuity of service, redundant facilities using PLDT’s existing equipment are also in place.

Much of the activities, including ministerial meetings, will be held at Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa where the leaders of various participating nations will also stay. — Mary Ann Reyes