SingTel allowed Filipinos to vote in remote areas

Company a key partner in making the first automated Philippines elections possible through its BGAN satellite.

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) on Monday announced its communications solutions enabled millions of voters in remote areas of the Philippines to participate in the nation’s first automated Presidential Elections.

In the world’s largest deployment of Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite technology, SingTel provided high speed wireless connectivity for the secure transmission of voting data for more than 5600 polling centres nationwide. The solution was integrated with the election organiser’s vote counting infrastructure and also incorporated SingTel’s ConnectPlus Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) services, according to a SingTel report.

In previous elections, votes were counted manually and the results from each polling station were hand delivered to election headquarters. The Philippine government turned to advanced ICT solutions to improve the efficiency of the electoral process.

Mr Sanjiv Aiyar, SingTel's CEO of Global and Wholesale, said, "SingTel is the only communications company in the region that can combine satellite and IP VPN services into a seamless integrated solution. By enabling organisers to set up polling stations anywhere in the country, no matter how remote, our solutions allowed more citizens to have a say in their nation's future. This flexibility is essential for a country like the Philippines, whose people are scattered across thousands of islands."

Mr Joseph P. Maddatu, Chief Operations Officer of We are IT Philippines, SingTel's partner in the Philippines, said, "We were delighted with the outstanding performance and reliability of SingTel's BGAN satellite solution, which was crucial for the smooth running of the elections. Even at the busiest polling stations, which handled thousands of ballots, SingTel's solution never let us down."

BGAN is a highly portable global satellite communications solution that offers simultaneous voice and broadband data connectivity with speeds of up to 492kbps. Using a lightweight and compact communications terminal, the service is simple to set up and use. SingTel's ConnectPlus IP VPN service enables companies to communicate seamlessly and cost-effectively between their offices around the world, with coverage in more than 65 destinations, including major Asian, European and US cities. SingTel is the number one provider of IP VPN solutions in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan).