PLDT Enterprise Partners With De La Salle Lipa For e-Learning

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TECHNOLOGY | July 22, 2020

(Image Source: SunStar Online/De La Salle Lipa)

PLDT Enterprise, the business-to-business (B2B) arm of the Philippines' leading ICT and digital services provider, has recently turned over 665 Smart Bro pocket WiFi units with Smart Giga Study plans for use of the LaSallian Associate Partners in De La Salle Lipa (DLSL), one of the premiere major colleges and universities in the city of Lipa and across the province of Batangas. These devices will augment and further complement DLSL's "Border-Free Education" system by connecting students and teachers online during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Smart Prepaid's Giga Study plans are specially developed offers that can cater exclusively to the academe. Giga Study includes daily data allocations for online learning tools essential for today's new normal of learning. It also provides open data allocations enabling both students and teachers to access vital information in order to further their expanded online needs. Through its partnership with PLDT, DLSL was able to extend its virtual infrastructure beyond the physical borders of the campus into the homes of its dedicated and hardworking faculty. Prior to the partnership, the campus has approximately 15 kilometers of fiber optic cables across the whole campus, linking the classrooms within a Local Area Network (LAN).

The school has nearly 800 academic and administrative staff members and more than 9,000 enrolled students from early childhood to college. Its fortified partnership with PLDT Enterprise provides the necessary connectivity for the faculty to conduct their educational activities for the benefit of students who are safely studying in their homes. "We hope to reinforce this fortified partnership further in the future by also providing the students of De La Salle Lipa with stronger internet connectivity at home. Our students, faculty and staff can access our digital educational infrastructure even as they are working from home," said Dfezie Torres-Tipan, DLSL Chief Of Strategic Services.

On the other hand, the partnership is one part of PLDT's ongoing efforts in enabling schools, colleges and universities in the Philippines like De La Salle Lipa to leverage on technology and continue learning for its students even while at home. "Our stance with the government to help combat this current crisis and help cope with the guidelines of quarantine has been the echoing mandate of not just PLDT, but also the entire MVP Group Of Companies," said Jovy I. Hernandez, ePLDT President and CEO and PLDT Senior Vice-President and Head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups. "We hope to expand our partnerships with other schools and academic institutions to make e-learning not just a band-aid solution but instead the catalyst to elevate our education system to the next level of learning.