Globe Telecom network powers automated polls

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom reported that its network has maintained optimal performance despite an increase in usage of call, text and data services during the conduct of the national elections last Monday.

“With over 85 percent of precincts successfully transmitting election results, we are pleased to see that the conduct of the first automated elections in the Philippines is going quite well,” said lawyer Froilan Castelo, head of Regulatory Affairs of Globe, “Within the last 48 hours, we have received a negligible number of reports from the National Support Center of Smartmatic-TIM, which were addressed promptly. These were isolated cases but on the whole, the network proved resilient and stable across the country.”

There are over 36,000 modems deployed to more than 37,000 polling centers nationwide to transmit election returns. Globe SIMs comprised 51 percent of the total SIMs purchased and deployed by Smartmatic-TIM for use in the modems for data transmission. On top of this, more than 6,000 polling centers relied solely on the Globe network to transmit election data.

On top of the transmission of election data via GPRS, Globe also established over 100 unique DSL connections for municipal and provincial canvassing centers nationwide. Globe was also responsible for housing the main data center of Smartmatic-TIM, which was the heart of the automated election system. This provided information to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), the quick count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) at the Pope Pius Center, and to the back-up data center.

“We are glad that the network upgrade and expansion we have been undertaking for the past six months, as well as the months of preparation for the national elections paid-off,” added Castelo, “At the onset, there were problems reported about malfunctioning PCOS machines and the long lines at the polls. But the fast transmission of data and the expedient proclamation of some winners saved the day for the nation.”

“The May 2010 elections put our network capabilities to the test, and Globe is proud to be part of this historic event in our country. The full automation, fast transmission and canvassing of votes served as a benchmark for elections in democratic countries worldwide.”