Local Government Units (LGUs) and their constituents now have an additional channel for communications in the fight against COVID-19 through Project Hotline, a dedicated wireless solution offered by Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart).
Designed for use nationwide, the platform includes a free smartphone, a Smart Prepaid or TNT SIM, and free data load allocation good for six months. Smart is also helping out local governments spread the information about their local hotline by bundling tarpaulin banners strategically placed in public areas.
The platform will benefit community residents, local government officials and employees, and frontline responders.
The new communications solution complements other community innovations rolled out by Smart. These include the Smart Inforcast Service – a web-based text broadcast solution; the Smart Emergency Cell Broadcast System (ECBS) – a platform that can quickly send public warnings to mobile phone users in specific areas; and the Batingaw emergency app – a mobile application that provides government agencies, organizations, and individuals, immediate access to disaster warnings, advisories, location data, and disaster mappings.
All these innovations underscore Smart’s #SafePH advocacy, which promotes the use of technology to strengthen communications and help mitigate disaster risk in communities.
These efforts are also in line with the commitment of Smart and its parent firm, PLDT Inc., to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), particularly the 9th UN SDG on Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, through building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation.
Recently, the country’s leading mobile network held a webinar billed as #WeHeadAsOne with more than 400 local governments and communities from 32 provinces across Luzon to layout various digital innovations in educations, livelihood, and agriculture to help communities adapt to the new normal. They learned from success stories of existing programs supported by Smart.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
