Smartmatic inks service contract with telcos for auto polls

MANILA, Philippines - Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) forged yesterday a memorandum of agreement with telecommunication companies to avail of their services in the May 10 polls.

The agreement was signed by representatives of Globe, PLDT Smart, Digitel and Smartmatic-TIM while Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials, led by Chairman Jose Melo, stood as witnesses.

Under the agreement, the system of these companies will be used to transmit the poll results from the voting centers to the canvassing centers and to the national canvassing centers.

“The way I look at it, this completes the circle because we are going to have preparations for the elections, the printing, the configuration and manufacture of the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines, everything,” Melo said.

The agreement is part of the P7.2-billion contract awarded to Smartmatic-TIM.

The other component of the deal is the 82,200 PCOS machines that the joint venture leased to Comelec.

Renato Garcia, Comelec consultant for information technology, said the three companies have agreed to provide Smartmatic-TIM a private channel that could be used for the transmission.

Smartmatic-TIM project director Alberto Castro noted that having a private channel allows them enough flexibility to transmit poll results.

“Having several networks would allow for flexibilities in the transmission of results in case one network is out of reach,” Castro added.       – With Jose Rodel Clapano