Smart CEO, Yolanda drive short-listed in Telecom Asia Awards

MANILA, Philippines - Coming from a two-year winning streak, Smart Communications Inc. is again in the running for top recognition at the Telecom Asia Awards, one of the region’s most prestigious industry awards programs.

Smart, the country’s leader in mobile, was nominated for Best Emerging Markets Carrier, while its president and chief executive officer, Napoleon Nazareno, was short-listed for Telecom CEO of the Year.

Smart and Nazareno won these awards in 2012, and remain the only Filipino nominees to win in the two categories.

In 2013, the year covered by the awards program, Smart went beyond providing traditional voice, SMS, and data services. It launched the Spinnr website and mobile application, which allow its subscribers to stream and download up to three million songs, and pay for their transactions via prepaid load or postpaid credits.

Smart also launched in 2013 the beta version of PowerApp, an app that offers mobile data packages that suit different lifestyles (e-mail, social networking packages, etc.) for as low as P5.

Meanwhile, the mobile money services that Smart provided for the global fundraising campaign “Help.ph” is in the running for Best Community Telecom Project.

Smart won in this category for two straight years — in 2012 for its digital health program called SHINE (Secured Health Information and Network Exchange), and in 2013 for Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) Mobile.

Smart and its subsidiary Smart e-Money Inc. made available the mobile money solution BayadLoad to the Help.ph campaign of the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation so that mobile phone users from all over the world can send donations via SMS in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Winners of this year’s Telecom Asia Awards will be named in a ceremony on May 7 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Just three months into 2014, Smart has already received three international and 10 local awards for its various programs. These include the “Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian Situations” recognition from the GSMA Global Mobile Awards for Smart’s speedy deployment of mobile satellite services, portable mobile networks, free local and international SMS bundles, and mobile money services in the aftermath of Yolanda.