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Megaworld eyes P2-B sales from new office tower

A DIGITAL rendition of the planned International Corporate Plaza within the Iloilo Business Park. — COMPANY HANDOUT

ILOILO CITY — Megaworld Corp. expects to generate P2 billion in sales from its newly launched office tower in Iloilo Business Park (IBP).

“This is a very exciting project for Iloilo. This is where companies including entrepreneurs can own their office spaces and enjoy its generous facilities never been seen before in any office in the entire region of Western Visayas,” IBP Vice-President for Sales and Marketing Jennifer P. Fong said in a press conference on Wednesday.

The 19-storey International Corporate Plaza will have 301 office units. The target market includes start-up companies along with established enterprises that want to set up operations in Iloilo. The project is expected to be completed by 2024.

“We will also be catering to locals like professionals, law offices, design firms, accounting firms. We want also to give them a chance to invest in a prime location to have their business here in Iloilo. We are also very much open to government offices,” she said.

The starting selling price is P155,000 per square meter (sq.m) for the prime office spaces ranging from 26 sq.m. to 65 sq.m.

“There is a demand for this kind of development, that’s why we are offering this now,” Ms. Fong said, adding that 10 companies have already made reservations.

The office tower, to be located within the IBP’s nine-hectare Commercial and Boutique Hotel District, will also have retail spaces and an arcade area at the ground floor.

“The 6th level will house ‘managed facilities’ such as two boardrooms, three meeting rooms, co-working and breakout areas, an executive lounge, and a Skygarden,” said Harold C. Brian Geronimo, Megaworld senior vice-president and head of public relations and media affairs.

It will also have “sky gardens” at the 6th floor and the rooftop, and other sustainable building features such as LED lightings, use of dual flush-type water closets in common toilets, and a material recovery facility for proper waste segregation and recycling.

The new office tower will also be fiber optic-ready, and equipped with a seismic detection and monitoring system, building management system, 24-hour Security and Fire Command Center, fire security system, and a 100% backup power facility.

“It’s really part of Megaworld’s sustainability plan. We have a plan that we put in place not just for this building but for all our buildings that we are constructing. Even our malls have integrated seismic detection and monitoring systems,” Mr. Geronimo said. — Emme Rose S. Santiagudo

Ordering coffee through Bo’s chatbot on Messenger

SKIP the line at Bo’s Coffee with a chatbot called Botty.

Botty was formally introduced earlier this week to guests at Bo’s in Glorietta, but it has been rolled out in 47 stores since June. Bo’s Coffee currently has a little over 100 branches.

To use Botty, simply open the Messenger app and search for Bo’s Coffee Advance Ordering BOTTY. Then, send your location or choose the store to place your order. Choose your drink size, perks, and quantity.

You can pay online using Visa or MasterCard credit/debit cards, PayMaya Card and Cash. The order will be ready in 15 minutes. Then just skip the queue and present the collection number at the counter.

Other online payment options will be accepted soon such as GCash and GrabPay. Delivery service will soon be available as well via GrabExpress.

For now, however, the chatbot ordering system limits one to a quick pickup.

The chatbot, according to CEO Steve Benitez, is the first step for a more online Bo’s experience. “Later on, we’ll integrate everything on one platform,” he said. For now, they’re tapping into the Messenger app because “Everybody has Messenger.”

UP AGAINST INT’L GIANTS
Bo’s Coffee was founded in 1996 in Cebu, and has since expanded to over 100 branches around the country, and even one in the Middle East. It is distinct in standing out as the biggest independent local chain in a country dominated by international giants such as Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (which is in the process of being bought by home-grown Jollibee Foods Corp.), and now, even Tim Horton’s from Canada. “I think that’s because we are very focused on highlighting Philippine coffee,” said Mr. Benitez. “We’re very focused on highlighting what is best about the Philippines.”

Mr. Benitez sources Bo’s coffee from several communities in Cotabatao, Davao, Bukidnon, Sagada, and Benguet. While not all of the coffee sold in Bo’s is Filipino however, they do have a special line that offers 100% Philippine coffee. “The more that we procure from them, the more sustainable they will become,” he said about the farming communities from which they source coffee through social entrepreneur partners. “We’re moving towards direct (sourcing),” he said.

Mr. Benitez talked about Bo’s Qatar branch, which opened in 2017, which means the Filipino coffee flag flies beyond these shores. It led to a reflection on his status as a Filipino brand among giants. “It feels fulfilling. Sometimes I feel like when you go around the commercial areas, you feel like we’ve kind of lost our sense of creativity. All you see are foreign brands.

“Our mission is to elevate our sense of being Filipino,” he said. “The entrepreneurial spirit of the Filipino is manifested in the brands that we are able to create.” — J.L. Garcia

Exora Source seeks to reduce firms’ power bills

LOCAL START-UP Exora Technologies has introduced a platform for establishments that have an average of 750-kilowatt peak demand per month to help reduce their electric bills.

Exora Source, which started working with clients earlier this year, assesses a contestable costumer’s consumer habits to recommend the best retail electricity supplier (RES) for them.

Contestable costumers are those who have 750-kilowatt average peak demand per month or have electricity bills of P2.5 million or above.

“Our platform, called Exora Source, will help you find the retail electricity supplier that best fits your energy profile and needs, which can help you save up to 30 percent in your electricity bill,” Sergius U. Santos, chief executive officer of Exora Technologies, said in a statement.

“The problem with that niche market…it’s still very much, I think, supplier-centric. And since the market is very esoteric and hard to understand, and there’s a lot of businesses who don’t have their own energy procurement arm…we help them through our platform,” Mr. Santos said during an interview.

Exora will stand as the “specialized procurement arm for the consumer.” Mr. Santos said they streamlined the process which usually takes up to six months down to less than three weeks.

Exora evaluates the contestable costumer’s electricity consumption behavior through site visits, review of past electricity bills and asking questions on their consumption behavior.

The profile of the contestable costumer’s will be generated from these information which will be used by RES for the enhanced competitive bidding process of Exora.

Factors such as location and energy contract type are also taken into consideration.

“The consumers select what they’re most comfortable with…kasi we have a top ten or a top five depending on the number of bidders and then from there they choose. We reveal the RES and what they want. There’s a lot of value added service.”

Mr. Santos expects around 20 clients for the company, “2020, 2021, we’re expecting maybe 15 to 20 big clients in our pipeline willing to try this Exora Source,” he added.

YouTube aiming to expand presence outside of Metro Manila

By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter

GOOGLE-OWNED video streaming platform YouTube is aiming to tap the provincial market, as it strives to expand its presence in the Philippines.

Vishal Sarin, director for YouTube Content Partnerships in Southeast Asia, told reporters yesterday the company’s goal moving forward is to build its footprint outside Metro Manila.

“YouTube has become a lot more mainstream. We have a huge growth opportunity, I firmly believe, outside of Metro Manila. As part of our investments in this country, we’re going to go deep in the provinces, and we really believe this growth momentum will be sustained in the years to come,” he said after a media briefing in Taguig City.

“We hope to take our programs to provinces by end of this year or early next year. We are working on it. We are building our plans on it. We hope to execute it by the end of this year,” he added.

Over the past three years since the company set up its local base in 2016, Mr. Sarin said YouTube has seen the number of Philippine-based content creators grow twentyfold. In the Philippines, there are now 750 YouTube channels with more than 100,000 subscribers, and over 20 YouTube channels with one million subscribers and above.

With its goal to increase viewers and content creators from the provinces, YouTube is expecting to sustain around the same level of growth in the coming years.

However, Mr. Sarin said one of the challenges is internet accessibility and affordability, especially outside Metro Manila.

To address this, the company intends to strengthen partnerships with telecommunications companies to start programs that would bring the platform to rural areas.

“We want to continue our partnership with Smart (Communications, Inc.). We want to invest in programs to take this to the provinces, and we need to do that in a more bigger scale and a larger way, and that will change as we go ahead,” he said.

Mr. Sarin said the Philippines continues to be an important market for YouTube as it is “one of the most vibrant and fastest-growing” in Asia.

Demand for BSP’s term deposits drops ahead of reserve ratio cut

BANKS’ DEMAND for term deposits declined on Wednesday amid a higher offer volume from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and ahead of the final phase of cuts to lenders’ reserve ratios.

The central bank received P66.231 billion in tenders for its term deposit facility (TDF) yesterday, below the P80 billion it placed on the auction block and the P88.91 billion recorded a week ago.

Broken down, bids for the seven-day papers totalled P27.755 billion, less than the P30 billion up for auction and the P37.495 billion in tenders seen a week ago.

Banks asked for yields from 4.5% to 4.603%, a slightly wider range versus the 4.51%-4.5944% margin seen the previous week. The average rate settled at 4.5679%, a tad higher than last week’s 4.564%.

Meanwhile, the 14-day papers received P16.776 billion in tenders, filling just over half of the P30 billion on the auction block. This is also significantly less than the P30.89 billion in bids logged last week.

Accepted yields settled between 4.5% and 4.7%, also wider than the 4.55%-4.675% range sought in the previous week and causing the average rate to increase to 4.6277% from last week’s 4.6148%.

Bids for the 29-day term deposits, on the other hand, reached P21.7 billion, filling the P20 billion on the auction block. This is also higher than the P20.525 billion in offers seen a week ago.

Returns sought by lenders ranged between 4.5% and 4.75%, steady from last week’s margin. Still, the average yield inched up to 4.6495% from the 4.6492% the previous week.

The TDF stands as the central bank’s primary tool to shore up excess funds in the financial system and to better guide market interest rates.

The market expects the BSP’s Monetary Board (MB) to slash interest rates when it reviews policy anew on Aug. 8.

At its June meeting, the MB kept rates unchanged on expectations of steady inflation and economic growth and as it monitors the impact of recent monetary adjustments.

The central bank left the interest rate on the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase facility untouched at 4.5%. The interest rates on the overnight lending and deposit facilities were likewise held steady at five percent and four percent, respectively.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno earlier said the regulator may cut policy rates in the second half before moving to reduce banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR).

After a 100-basis-point (bp) RRR cut across all banks on May 31, the BSP trimmed the reserve ratios of universal and commercial lenders and thrift banks by another 50 bps last June 28 to 16.5% and 6.5%, respectively.

Another 50-bp reduction will be implemented on July 26 to finally bring the RRR of big banks to 16% and thrift banks to 6%, which completes the phased cuts the BSP announced in May.

Last week, Mr. Diokno also said that a possible 25- or 50-basis-point rate cut from the US Federal Reserve gives the BSP “and the entire world more policy space for cutting.” — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Shaken or stirred: robotic bartender serves up cocktails for clubbers

PRAGUE — For revelers at one Prague megaclub, gone are the days of being squashed at the bar waiting to get a watered-down cocktail.

Two years after becoming the first to try a robot DJ, the five-story Karlovy Lazne Music Club has gone a step further with the launch of a robotic bartender to mix up cocktails, after its manager was inspired by seeing one in Las Vegas.

While the electric DJ keeps the music going on the first floor, thirsty clubbers can use touchscreen terminals to order from among 16 mixed drinks.

The bartender — two robotic pincher arms, modeled after those used in car factories — stands on a small stage in a corner of the room, below a mass of liquor bottles, and can churn out 80 drinks an hour.

Waiters carry the drinks to whoever ordered them.

“It is funny to see how it is processed and it tastes really good,” one German clubber said after trying his first drink, a Cuba Libre.

The drink list at the club, just around the corner from the centuries-old Charles Bridge, should grow to around 50.

As quantities served by a robot are programmed, revelers no longer need to worry about being ripped off with a weak drink. — Reuters

Microsoft to invest $1 billion in research group OpenAI

MICROSOFT CORP. agreed to invest $1 billion in a partnership with research group OpenAI, gaining a prominent cloud-computing customer from the artificial intelligence (AI) field.

OpenAI, co-founded by Elon Musk and other wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud services to train and run the group’s AI software. The two will also jointly develop supercomputing technology, and Microsoft will be OpenAI’s preferred partner to commercialize its creations, the companies said in a statement on Monday.

OpenAI started in 2015 with much fanfare. Industry luminaries including Musk and Peter Thiel committed at least $1 billion to the nonprofit to build AI that could match or improve on the technology being developed by tech giants such as Google, Facebook Inc. and Microsoft. However, Musk said he left OpenAI’s board last year over disagreements about some of the group’s plans. More recently, OpenAI started a for-profit arm to help it raise more money.

The $1 billion investment goes to the for-profit arm, OpenAI LP, but the partnership is between Microsoft and the whole entity, OpenAI said.

A partnership with Microsoft, which has more than $100 billion in cash, is a quick solution to OpenAI’s funding needs. But it’s an about-face of sorts. The group was seen by some in the AI community as an important counterbalance to large technology corporations that have snapped up talent and used their computing power and huge data hoards to leap ahead in the field.

Advocacy groups and policy makers have raised concerns about some types of AI and called for regulation to increase transparency, guard against bias and ensure the technology isn’t used for military purposes and other dangerous applications. Those issues are likely to become more pressing as researchers try to develop AI that has more human-like capabilities.

In February, OpenAI unveiled an algorithm that can write coherent sentences, including fake news articles, after being given just a small sample. The implications were so worrying that the group opted not to release the most powerful version of the software.

The partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI will focus on Artificial General Intelligence, which aims to get computers to learn new skills and complete varied tasks like humans can. That’s a contrast to existing AI, which can learn specific jobs, such as understanding images, but can’t tackle different problems on its own.

AGI, and the ability for computers to potentially teach themselves so much they eclipse humans, was what disturbed Musk so much that he helped found OpenAI. On Monday, Microsoft and OpenAI addressed such concerns.

“The creation of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will be the most important technological development in human history, with the potential to shape the trajectory of humanity,” said Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI. “It’s crucial that AGI is deployed safely and securely and that its economic benefits are widely distributed. We are excited about how deeply Microsoft shares this vision.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the goal is to “democratize AI — while always keeping AI safety front and center — so everyone can benefit.” Microsoft and OpenAI said the work will be governed by both companies’ AI ethics policies.

Microsoft is also looking for more Azure cloud customers and for ways to promote Azure’s AI capabilities, so a tie-up with a leading research arm in the field is lucrative. The two organizations will use Microsoft’s work on supercomputers to build technology in Azure that has the scale to train and run more sophisticated AI models.

“We chose Microsoft as our cloud partner because we’re excited about Azure’s supercomputing roadmap,” said Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s co-founder and chairman, in an emailed statement. “We believe we can work with Microsoft to develop hardware and software platform within Microsoft Azure which will scale to AGI.”

Other OpenAI investors include the charitable foundation of LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capital firm Khosla Ventures. Founders include Musk, Altman, co-founder and former president of start-up incubator Y Combinator, as well as Brockman and AI researcher Ilya Sutskever, who serves as OpenAI’s chief scientist. — Bloomberg

Solon files bill seeking to renew ABS-CBN franchise

A CONGRESSWOMAN has refiled a bill seeking to renew the franchise of media giant ABS-CBN Corp., which is set to expire by end-March 2020.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Micaela S. Violago filed House Bill 676, which “aims to renew ABS-CBN’s right to operate TV and radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines through microwave, satellite or whatever means, including the use of new technologies in television and radio systems.”

Under the bill, ABS-CBN’s franchise will be renewed for another 25 years.

“In acknowledgement of ABS-CBN’s accomplishments and the capital requirements of its operations, the immediate renewal of its original franchise which expires on March 30, 2020, is recommended to ensure the uninterrupted and improved delivery of its services to the Filipino people,” the bill’s explanatory note stated.

Ms. Violago previously filed the bill during the 17th Congress, but it failed to gain support at the House of Representatives.

This as President Rodrigo R. Duterte has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

But Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo previously said it is up to Congress to decide on ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, not Mr. Duterte.

ABS-CBN reported its attributable net income grew by 89.2% to P856.35 million in the first quarter of 2019, driven by a 24.4% increase in advertising revenues at P5.4 billion.

The Lopez-led media giant is focusing on boosting its digital business this year, as it faces the possibility that its legislative franchise would not be renewed.

The bill renewing the franchise of ABC Development Corp., currently known as TV5 Network, Inc., lapsed into law on April 22, 2019, without Mr. Duterte’s signature. — VACF

LANDBANK to submit progress report to Palace

LAND BANK of the Philippines said it has been supporting the agriculture sector.

LAND BANK of the Philippines (LANDBANK) is set to submit a report to Malacañang on its programs supporting the agriculture industry, after President Rodrigo R. Duterte threatened to abolish the bank for supposedly neglecting its mandate.

In a statement on Wednesday, the largest state-owned lender said it will “comply” with Mr. Duterte’s instruction relayed during his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

“We shall be submitting the report detailing our plans and programs to further achieve our objective, before the end of the month,” LANDBANK said.

Mr. Duterte criticized LANDBANK for being “mired with so many commercial transactions,” saying it is mandated to finance agricultural projects and endeavors.

“Bumalik kayo (Go back to) where you were created for, and that is to the farmers…. You better decide on that. I will give you until the end of July to give me a plan. Or else, I will ask Congress to reconfigure you…” Mr. Duterte said on Monday.

LANDBANK said it remains committed to pursue its mandate of “helping our small farmers and fishers, and the agricultural sector at large.”

It added that it will also strengthen partnerships with cooperatives, farmer groups and associations, and its collaborations with other government agencies.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez said about a fifth of LANDBANK’s total lending book goes to the agriculture sector.

“As of now, their total loan portfolio is around P800 billion… A little over 20% is in the (agriculture) sector which is P177 billion,” said Mr. Dominguez, who is also LANDBANK’s ex-officio chairman.

Data provided to reporters showed LANDBANK’s exposure to agriculture and fisheries sectors amounted to P177.32 billion as of end-June, 22.17% of the lender’s total loan portfolio of P799.64 billion — 16.8% higher than P151.78 billion recorded as of June 2018.

This is on top of the P42.31 billion lent to the “mandated” sector, which includes small farmers including agrarian reform beneficiaries and their associations (P42.17 billion) as well as small fishers and their associations (P140 million).

“We are the only bank who is compliant with the Agri-Agra law requirement,” LANDBANK President and Chief Executive Officer Cecilia C. Borromeo said. “We also lend to the local government units to enable them to build roads and bridges to connect the farms and market and have facilities for the mitigation of calamities.”

Republic Act 10000 or the Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act mandates banks to allot at least 10% of its total loanable funds to agrarian reform beneficiaries and 15% for farmers and fisherfolk.

As of end-March, banks only extended P711 billion loans to the agriculture sector, just 57.33% of the P1.24 trillion they should have lent out to beneficiaries, latest central bank data showed.

Ms. Borromeo added that apart from the agriculture sector, LANDBANK also extends loans to other government priority programs such as those for micro, small and medium enterprises, telecommunications, transportation and low-cost housing among others.

“So P524.86 billion in total outside the mandated sector. So we have the mandated sector its almost P744.5 billion. That’s 93% of our loan portfolio,” the chief executive added. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Tencent teams up with Pokémon to develop new mobile game titles

TENCENT Holdings Ltd. and Pokémon Co. will jointly develop games, an alliance that may help the Nintendo Co.-backed company crack the world’s largest mobile gaming arena.

Tencent, whose WeChat social media service is used by more than a billion people across China, said its TiMi Studio Group will take the lead in developing titles with the Japanese company behind the popular monster-hunting franchise. The two have struck a broad agreement on collaboration, Tencent said in a post on its official Weibo blog without elaborating.

The social media giant could prove a strong ally for Nintendo and Pokémon Co. in China, where local titles dominate and gamers have shunned consoles in favor of smartphones and PCs. Developers there have also complained of rampant piracy, where popular titles tend to trigger a wave of copy-cats.

Tencent’s own Let’s Hunt Monsters has drawn fire for adopting many features of viral phenom Pokémon Go, from the use of real-world locations to how players toss balls to capture monsters. The title has consistently ranked among the 30 highest-grossing apps in China, according to researcher Sensor Tower.

Pokémon Co., in which Nintendo owns a significant stake, is looking to follow up on its surprise hit Pokémon Go, which created a sensation in the gaming community by letting users hunt monsters and prizes in the real world with their smartphones. In May, it unveiled several new initiatives at an event in Tokyo, including a Detective Pikachu sequel for the Switch console and a new device for tracking sleep.

Tencent, in turn, gains a strong franchise to bolster its international presence. The Chinese company seeks growth beyond China and its executives have been keen to assuage game developers’ concerns about intellectual property infringement.

“While Tencent has focused mostly on China in the past, we are now looking at the gaming sector with a much more global perspective,” TiMi executive Vincent Gao said in an interview in June. “This will make the company pay better attention to IP protection.” — Bloomberg

Max’s Restaurant launches new TV ad, loyalty card, and dining promos

IN THE early days, animals in the forest bullied the sun for producing unbearable heat. When the sun disappeared for quite a long time, the animals apologized daily by writing “Sorry” on stone, smoke, and fire, and spelling the word out with their bodies. In desperation for sunlight, the chicken unceasingly chuckled until the sun rose. Unfortunately, when the chicken and the sun gave each other a high five upon rising, the chicken turned into fried chicken. Thus is the legend, according to Max’s Restaurant.

On July 18, Max’s Restaurant launched the commercial titled “Rise Up,” the third installment of its “Every Kind of Family” campaign, as well as dining promotions in celebration of the brand’s 74 years.

“‘Rise Up’ gets to the heart of Max’s Restaurant as an institution; more than The House That Fried Chicken Built, it has also been a place where people of different ages, backgrounds, and beliefs have come together for over seven decades,” Max’s Restaurant Chief Operating Officer Paolo Serrano was quoted as saying in a press release.

Having groups of dinners across generations at its branches has been a constant for the brand. “If you walk into most restaurants out there, you see a very diverse profile of diners eating. But I think the one thing that makes Max’s so unique is when you look at the table, the groups are very multi-generational” marketing director of Max’s Group Inc. Mark De Joya told BusinessWorld shortly after the launch at My Cinema Greenbelt 3.

Along with the launch of the TVC came the release of the Max’s Reward’s Card. A minimum single-receipt food purchase of P1,000, entitles guests to one card.

Cardholders get a 10% discount when they order P500 to P10,000 worth of food. Cardholders may also avail a free Max’s Best Plate — fried chicken, lumpiang shanghai (fried spring rolls), pancit canton (noodles), Max’s tofu or chicken skin, sweet kamote (sweet potato) fries, rice, and a caramel bar — seven days before or after their birthday.

On July 31, Max’s will be offering a Chicken All-You-Can promo staring at noon. Diners may avail of unlimited Max’s fried chicken, soup of the day, soft drinks, and rice for P399.

For Mr. De Joya, people always go back to something that is familiar despite the barrage of innovations.

“The thing that really makes us so joyful about our own chicken is that it’s a recipe that has not changed since 1945. The chicken that was born from the kitchen of Maximo Jimenez is the same chicken we’re serving today, “ he said.

For more information about the Rewards Card and the Chicken All-You-Can promo, visit Max’s official Facebook page. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Google Station expands to over 400 PHL sites

GOOGLE’S free internet access program with partner PLDT, Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. has expanded to more than 400 sites the past five months.

In a statement Wednesday, the tech giant said its Google Station program continues to increase in coverage since it was launched in the country in February.

“With our partnership with Smart, we aim to set up Google Station in more locations nationwide so Filipinos can connect to opportunities and benefit from the growing digital economy,” K Suri, Google director for Next Billion Users for Southeast Asia, was quoted in the statement as saying.

The company’s live stations are spread across transportation facilities such as airports in Manila, Clark and Davao and train lines such as the Light Rail Transit Line 2 and Metro Rail Transit Line 3. It is also present in several universities and colleges located in the provinces.

Google said it records an average of 1 million monthly active users on Google Station, with every user spending an average of 22 minutes per session connected to its free internet service.

Since Google Station allows users to connect for 30-minute sessions for an unlimited number of times a day, this data means the 22-minute average time a user spends in every session may be observed from several sessions in a day.

“We remain committed to serving the Filipino community with fast, free and open Wi-Fi so more people can join the millions of Filipinos already using Google Station… This is just the beginning,” Mr. Suri said.

The partnership with PLDT and Smart allowed Google to convert former Smart Free Wi-Fi stations into Google Stations.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez

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