TELECOMMUNICATIONS company PLDT Inc. is working to build a “new normal” ecology for the education sector, which is expected to become an “essential” part of its business, company officials said.
It also expects opportunities in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, which has been implementing a work-from-home arrangement for its employees since the start of the coronavirus lockdown.
PLDT Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said the company is working with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to address the needs of the education sector in the new setup, which requires connectivity, e-learning platforms, and even cybersecurity.
“[The challenge is to] implement [this] as quickly as we can, not a hundred percent but at least a portion of the students who will have to go digital,” Mr. Pangilinan told reporters in a recent virtual briefing, noting that basic education classes will reopen on Aug. 24.
PLDT Chief Revenue Officer Alfredo S. Panlilio said the company was looking at both online and offline learning systems and the possible involvement of Cignal TV, Inc. in the initiative as it has its own educational program.
“So we are really building up an ecosystem for that. We have been talking about this for the past couple of weeks already,” he said.
PLDT Senior Vice-President and Head of Enterprise Business Groups Juan Victor I. Hernandez noted that there are schools whose learning management systems are housed outside of the Philippines.
“That’s now going to be a challenge because when we implement e-learning, it is now going to be a question whether the students can really access the contents effectively, and that’s where our data center business comes into play,” he added.
Mr. Panlilio said that aside from PLDT’s possible partnership with DepEd on the provision of connectivity, content, and solutions, cybersecurity is also going to be “a very important aspect” of the entire platform that the company will offer to schools.
“That’s something we are developing now, and it is going to be an important part of our business,” he added.
Mr. Hernandez noted that there are about 1.2 million teachers, 80,000 schools, and 32 million students that PLDT needs to help shift.
“Our primary goal is for our kids to study effectively. I mean any revenue opportunities, moving forward, later na ‘yun,” he added.
HOME-BASED BPO EMPLOYEES
Mr. Hernandez said the demand for high-speed internet has been rising since the start of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
“During the first two weeks of the ECQ, the surge in demand happened first because the BPOs were grappling with the fact that they had to enable their work-from-home employees,” he said.
PLDT, according to Mr. Hernandez, has been working closely with BPO companies.
“If we look at the workflows that a BPO company has to do, for them to be able to enable a work-from-home arrangement, maybe wireless internet is not the more dependable [connection]. We are now working with them to look at the fiber connections,” he said.
“From a demand perspective, we’ve seen a surge in demand for fiber. We are very excited when the ECQ will be lifted so we can install all of these lines. If you are going to take a look at the magnitude, we are talking about 1.2 million FTEs (full time employees) nationwide. And if the BPOs will implement that 50% of their workforce will be at home, then you could see the magnitude of the demand that we will be working on,” Mr. Hernandez added. — Arjay L. Balinbin
