TELCO firm PLDT has tied up with local and foreign retail and entertainment providers to bring “the home of the future” to Filipino families.
“This is a new era in digital living, as we make Filipino homes stronger, safer, more comfortable and more enjoyable via PLDT’s Smart Home, which has powerful connectivity and an integrated suite of innovative, reliable and family-friendly products and services,” said Oscar A. Reyes Jr., first vice president (FVP) and head of home operations of PLDT.
“This is made possible with several local and global partnerships that we entered into recently, which are aimed at enhancing and enriching the lives of millions of digitally connected Filipinos powered by PLDT Home and Smart Communications for mobile services,” he said.
Through its consumer business unit PLDT HOME, the company forged an alliance with US-based Roku Inc. for its leading video-streaming platform that will allow users to easily stream shows and movies on their television screens.
The deal makes the Philippines the first in Asia to join the ranks of Roku’s international markets that include Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. Its services will be launched commercially in the country early next year.
For online shopping, the partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon will soon make the Kindle e-book reader available for Filipino book lovers. Meanwhile, PLDT’s collaboration with global Internet TV network Netflix shall give users access to its extensive library of award-winning TV and movie titles. New TV programs and films are constantly added to the service of more than 81 million members in 190 countries.
No matter what subscription plans they use, members can create up to four profiles within a single Netflix account. The profile allows each family member to enjoy a personalized experience built around its offerings.
Parental-control settings are also provided to ensure kids’ safe-viewing. This will limit a youngster’s profile to a variety of child-friendly titles they can watch.
The only local partner among the roster of new allies of the telco firm is ABS-CBN via its iWant TV, the leading player in the over-the-top content platform in the country.
Besides the TV network’s past programs, users can stream their current favorite Kapamilya shows so they catch up on the latest plot twists and turns. Also, news and current-affair shows are easily accessible on-demand.
PLDT’s Smart Home is designed on the key pillars of connectivity, peace of mind, entertainment, and convergence and automation.
Binding the connectivity is the PLDT Home Fibr broadband that delivers the nation’s first and fastest Internet of up to 1 Gbps for high-speed browsing of multiple portals. It is also the country’s pioneering symmetrical speed service, which provides equal upload and download speeds.
For parents’ peace of mind, PLDT Home’s products and services are designed to guarantee the safety of children even without their presence. These include the home monitoring system Fam Cam; the multi-functional kid-friendly gadget Smart Watch; and the cyber safety solution Family Zone–all best used with the Telpad.
For entertainment, PLDT Home gives customers a wide array of content, from games and e-books (Disney through Telpad) to sports (Fox Sports, NBA Premium HD via Cignal), gaming (Steam) and video-on-demand (iflix). Subscribers have compact access to information and entertainment via the TVolution Stick. Adding to this entertainment suite are the partnerships with Netflix, iWantTV and Roku.
Lastly, PLDT Home has pioneered the convergence of wired and wireless connections through the data-sharing feature that allows clients to flawlessly share data to pre-connected mobile accounts with leading wireless service provider Smart Communications.
“PLDT’s Smart Home evolved from our pioneering concept of the Connected Home,” Reyes said. “The connected home was our vision of the modern Filipino home wherein families are connected, entertained and secured with the help of digital innovations powered by PLDT Home. It was the starting point of our journey.”
Integrated with each other, the product or service interacts with one another to perform unified tasks aimed at easing and enriching the lives of subscribers.
“It’s a Home that cares; it listens, protects, interacts and simplifies our lives,” he said.
“We don’t want to wait for the future to dictate the trends and the innovations. We are charting our own course and shaping the future through innovative use of technology, global partnerships, world-class content and a keen awareness of and commitment to our subscribers needs. Today is the beginning of the digitally connected and empowered home that we are building for Filipino families,” he said.