Smart gains int'l nod for green initiatives

MANILA, Philippines - Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) received two prestigious awards in 2011 for programs that support the preservation of the environment, one from the Asia Communication Awards and the other from the World Communications Awards.

The Asia Communications Awards bestowed upon Smart the Green Technology Award, while the World Communications Awards gave the Philippine company the Green Award, both for its “Alternative Power for Cell Sites” program.  This brings to five, Smart’s awards for the said program which enforces the use of renewable energy to power cell-sites in off-grid areas nationwide.

In 2006, Smart installed the country’s first wind-powered cell site on Malapascua, an island off northern Cebu. Smart has since successfully used wind and solar energy to power some 114 cell sites nationwide.

This year, Smart’s green cell sites, along with its other pro-environment initiatives under its corporate social responsibility program Kabalikat are once again nominated for the Green Mobile Award – one of its four nominations at the 17th Global Mobile Awards of the GSM Association (GSMA).

“We are proud and fulfilled that our environmental initiatives are being recognized as one of the world’s best practices when it comes to protecting the environment,” said Darwin Flores, Smart Public Affairs’ senior manager for community partnerships. “We are conscious about the impacts of the operations of today’s industries and technologies to the planet, and we at Smart are doing our part and taking measures to manage and lessen our carbon footprint.”

“As the nation’s leading wireless services provider with facilities strategically located all over the country, Smart recognizes that it plays a great role in leading, as well as contributing to efforts to institutionalize sound environmental practice in the telecoms industry,” he added.

Through Kabalikat, Smart is implementing its carbon reduction and carbon capture programs to address the environmental impact of its operations by managing and offsetting its carbon emissions.

Two of its primary concerns are the increasing energy consumption especially in the advent of power-hungry solutions, and the adverse impact of solid waste from outdoor advertising and promotional materials.