Warding off eviction after eviction and rebuilding lives and homes in the relocation sites, the members of ZOTO continue to struggle for a community of economically and politically empowered citizens who are accorded their due dignity, who foster gender equality and democracy, and live in a healthy and bountiful environment.

For more than 42 years, ZOTO has continued to grow as it continues to implement integrated community development programs such as community organizing, training, and education, computer literacy program, children and young people’s rights, gender equality and women empowerment, primary health care and reproductive health, livelihood and microfinance and early childhood education. To date, ZOTO is a people’s organization composed of 646 local urban poor organizations with 32,777 members in 28 relocation sites and areas for demolition in Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Rizal and Laguna.

Its trust of building and rebuilding lives and turning shanties into empowered communities has rallied its leaders and members into landmark accomplishments for the Filipino urban poor. ZOTO has maintained and nurtured four generations of urban mass base for pro-poor struggle. ZOTO also has negotiated land rights and use in 28 relocation areas.

One of the efforts to help disadvantaged groups in the Philippines by the ADOC Project was the establishment of the first computer training center for visually impaired people in 2009. Against the stereotypical image that visually impaired people could not operate computers successfully, ADOC worked to break that cliché. The center has directly and indirectly trained over 300 visually impaired young adults and introduced more than a hundred blind school children to information technology. In addition, the center provides various training programs that have benefited over a hundred Special Education teachers, rehabilitation workers, university instructors, and parents of blind children. The ADOC Project gives visually impaired individuals a sense of hope and the confidence to strive for a brighter future.

Here is a story talking about a young man from the Philippines that perfectly illustrates how ADOC helps disadvantaged people to improve their lives. Mr. James Santos[1], who is at age 16 and lives in Dagat-Dagatan Caloocan City, is a low vision freshman at the AMA Computer School in Paco, Manila. After school, he attends the PC operation course with access technology and PC refurbishment in the ATRIEV ADOC.

For James, life is difficult. Going to school in Paco from Dagat-Dagatan Caloocan City is a daily problem. To make matters worse, his vision is deteriorating. He finds it difficult to travel alone at night. With limited vision, James can only identify the bus that takes him home from its color.

Due to the financial difficulty, James skips lunch most of the time so he can have money for the next day. His father Felix[2] is the sole provider to the family. Working as a security guard, the little amount of salary is the only financial resource to the family with three children. Felix cannot provide more financial supports for James to get more help, such as having someone walk with James at night to make sure James’ safety.

The hardship has not deterred this young man. James is determined to finish his studies.  Equipped with the technology and the knowledge he acquired from the PC refurbishment course, James works as a part-time technician in a computer shop near his school. James also shares his time and expertise in the ATRIEV ADOC during his free time. Patience, perseverance and potentials are the three qualities that will lead this young man making his dream a reality.

Stories like this is what motivates ADOCs to devote further endeavor to the current projects.  We would invite interested partners and corporations to join this project for making it a success. We continuously hope to use ICT to transform digital divide to digital opportunities for the disadvantaged groups in the global village. 

For more information about the ADOC Project, please visit http://www.apecdoc.org.

Cu expressed bullish prospects about the growing ubiquity of mobile phones in the Philippines, with mobile set to change the landscape of traditional advertising in the country.

As keynote speaker at the 2012 Mobile Marketing Conference of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (Immap) with his speech: “How Mobile is Changing the Advertising Industry,” Cu cited the strong potential of mobile phones as an effective medium for brands to reach target audiences.

Citing an example closer to home, Cu revealed that in the Philippines, nine out of 10 people own mobile phones, putting mobile phone penetration at its highest peak compared to any other form of medium such as television.

“Indeed, mobile is the way to go to connect with and engage today’s consumers, as well as to create a rich consumer experience that goes beyond traditional marketing,” he said.

The official said that the use of mobile phones as a channel to communicate with a target market pushes brand activation to the limits of a consumer’s imagination, citing augmented reality as an effective platform to bring advertising campaigns to life.

Cu also said that mobile advertising opens creative corridors for dynamic and more compelling content, capitalizing on strong visual stimulation to entice consumers further.

Lastly, the Globe official hyped the interactivity that mobile encourages, allowing consumers to instantly send feedback, making the retail experience more relevant and meaningful.

“Mobile technology has definitely changed the way brands talk to their consumers. Because it’s so personal and powerful, it enables the unique efficiency of reaching out to very precise target markets with mobile advertising-driven campaigns hinging on the capability to profile customers and touch them directly,” said Cu.

In 2010, Globe partnered with Out There Media in launching its mobile advertising platform called My Rewards, My Globe Plus, now with over two million opt-in subscribers. Top consumer brands such as McDonald’s, Clear and Sunsilk have effectively used the platform to engage and establish affinity with their target consumers.

Taking the track of extensively profiling the customer, Globe is embarking on a massive $90-million information technology and systems transformation that will monitor demographics, usage, product subscriptions, transactions, bill payment and behavior of its subscribers.

“As soon as we see that a customer has the propensity to top up load, to roam, or to subscribe to a promo on any given day, we can push the relevant service in an instant, to the right customer, at the right time,” Cu said.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/business/top-business-news/38922-globe-sees-cell-phones-changing-advertising

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This year, the telecommunications industry targets an 8-percent increase in main business revenue. The software and information technology service industry’s revenue will grow by around 25 percent.

The ministry enhanced industrial supervision in 2012 by allowing more private capital to enter the market, lowering service fees and improving service quality, Miao said.

By the end of November, the number of mobile phone users exceeded 1.1 billion, and 3G users had reached 220 million and broadband Internet users stood at 174 million.

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According to NTC Director Edgardo Cabarios, Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communication Inc. passed the standard for Grade of Service for the month of December 2012, based on benchmarking made by the commission.

In a test that measures network performance based on NTC’s minimum service performance standard for the month of December, Smart and Globe passed the standard Grade of Service, which is at 4 percent. Smart got 1 percent while Globe Telecom had 2 percent.

“We will work hard to do even better,” said Ramon Isberto, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co./Smart Public Affairs head.

Globe said in a text message that they have yet to see the results of the tests.

The tests were conducted using postpaid Globe and Smart’s subscriber identity module (SIM) cards subscribing to regular services and not unlimited services. Sun SIMs, Talk and Text SIMs, Red Mobile SIMs and Touch Mobile SIMs were not used because these SIMs are sharing the networks of either Globe or Smart. The NTC monitoring team made sure that the locations where the tests were conducted and the SIMs were not known to anyone to anyone, except to the members of the monitoring team.

The monitoring teams conducted tests for one week during December 2012 to determine the quality
of service rendered during the holiday season.

The monitoring team made the calls using the “drive test” method, or while inside a moving vehicle.

Results
Block Calls or Grade of Service (GoS) refers to the percentage of calls that were not given access by the network. Based on the test conducted on GoS, Smart was measured at 1 percent, which is the lowest percentage, establishing an edge over Globe, which got 2 percent. Both passed the less than or equal to 4 percent performance standard of the commission, meaning no more than four blocked calls is allowed for every 100 call attempts.

For Dropped Call Rate, or the percentage of ongoing calls that there were involuntarily terminated, both companies passed the minimum 2 percent. Again Smart ranked first with 1 percent dropped calls, followed by Globe at 1.2 percent.

For Average Received Signal Level, Smart had an edge over Globe. Smart measured at -64.49dBm and Globe registered at -71.78dBm. The industry standard for Average Receive Signal Level is more than or equal -85dBm.

For Average Signal Quality (ASQ), Smart got 0.67 and Globe, 0.94. The minimum acceptable range for this item is from zero to four, and the closer to zero, the better. Signal quality zero indicates that there are no errors in transmission.

ASQ is the quality of voice transmission while a subscriber is using a mobile phone. The transmission should not be choppy or garbled.

Call Set-Up Time refers to the time required for the network to activate the called party. In simple terms, this refers to the period required from the time a subscribers finished dialing to the time of the first ring.

Call set-up time for both telecom service providers were within the acceptable industry standard of below 14 seconds. Smart registered 11.12 seconds while Globe got 11.98 seconds.

The commission will continuously monitor the service performance of the telcos to ensure the quality of their services to the public.

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In its application with the NTC, Bayantel said that in compliance with the condition imposed by the commission, Bayantel filed a manifestation and motion seeking the Rehabilitation Court’s confirmation of the joint use. The hearing of the motion was set on December 13, 2012, but was reset to January 23, 2013 because of the unavalability of the presiding judge.

It also said that since the 60-day period within which to seek confirmation of the joint use is due to expire on January 6, 2013, Bayantel is constrained to request for an extension of at least 60 days until March 7, 2013, within which to secure the confirmation of the Rehabilitation Court on the joint use of frequencies.

Recently, however, Globe said that the “joint use” agreement with Bayantel could revive the Lopez-controlled company’s venture into mobile phone service.

In its application with the NTC, Globe said that the joint use agreement will allow it to address increasing demand for voice, SMS and mobile data services, while enabling Bayantel to offer mobile services nationwide.

The NTC recently approved Globe’s application for the joint use of the 1750-1760 megahertz/1845-1855 megahertz frequencies assigned to Bayantel.

The joint use agreement will allow Globe to address increasing demand for voice, short messaging service (text messaging) and mobile data services, and Bayantel to offer its mobile telecommunications services to customers.

Bayantel’s existing nationwide network comprises satellite, terrestrial, as well as land and submarine-based cable facilities.

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“We recommend the Japanese [technology],” said NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordova.

The commission cited some advantages of using Japanese technology like having early warning devices for tsunami and earthquakes, that sends alerts from 30 seconds to one minute depending on location. It is more cheaper and it can also use mobile phones as TV monitors.

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. said recently that it has spent almost a billion pesos to go into digital TV.

The Lopez-led said that it is just waiting for the government to issue a standard, whether that will be based on Japanese or European technology.

There were earlier reports saying that the NTC will endorse to the Palace the adoption of the Japanese standard for the Philippines’ migration to digital terrestrial TV.

Digital television is an innovative transmitting technology that has transformed television-viewing experience. It has enabled broadcasters to offer television with better picture and sound quality, and offers multiple programming choices.

In April 2011, the NTC ordered all broadcasting companies in the Philippines to shut off their analog signal by December 2015 and switch to digital broadcast. GMA Network Inc. also said recently that it would be the last network to adopt to digital television, because of the economic situation of Filipino TV viewers.

The network said it is capable of producing and broadcasting programs on high-definition or digital television, but it might still take some time before local networks could start transmitting digitally. GMA also said that the country still has a low percentage of high-definition ready TV sets versus analog TV sets.

But the broadcasting company is ready to replace its transmitter with one that has digital technology, and households can just buy set-up boxes to allow their analog television sets to receive digital signals. However, the set-up boxes are still expensive for households to purchase and GMA doesn’t have the money to give away such devices.

With the NTC choosing Japanese technology, the Philippines has foregone the adoption of the Advanced Television System Committee system implemented by North American broadcasters, which was devised as a replacement for the National Television System Committee system utilized by North America and the Philippines.

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Globe also said that its cellular site in Zamboanga del Sure continues to operate.

An improvised bomb exploded on early Tuesday morning inside a Globe cellsite at Poblacion, Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte, injuring a security guard on duty at the telecommunication facility.

In answer to reports, Globe said that the Zamboanga cell site suffered no significant damage and that there has been no disruption in telecommunications services in the area.

“Our guard on duty suffered very minor injuries, and was immediately given treatment at a nearby Siocon Medical Clinic. Despite the unfortunate incident, our subscribers did not experience any service disruption as all mobile services are up and running in the Zamboanga area,” said Crisanto.

“We are waiting for the results of the official investigation from the Zamboanga police to determine possible motives behind the attack,” she added.

On unverified reports of text messages that were not sent during the past few days, Crisanto said that, “Our technical group reported that our network’s integrity using both the modernized as well as the remaining legacy infrastructure is uncompromised and currently performs at its peak. There may be times when non-Globe subscribers may experience difficulty sending texts to our network but the problem may have to do with their transmitting home network,” she said.

She cited the case of Sun Cellular’s link congestion, which is affecting inter-operator SMS traffic.
“There is an ongoing negotiation with Sun to upgrade their links to better serve Globe customers,” Crisanto added.

The company issued the statement in response to allegations that it had difficulty processing text messages from other networks.

“We urge the public not to heed negative statements and advisories that are contrary to the actual situation on the ground,” said Crisanto.

Globe is currently undergoing a $700-million network modernization program meant to completely transform its network.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/business/top-business-news/39670-globe-claims-network-working-fine

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In 2012, over 730,000 Chinese apps were launched on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad platforms, and the number of apps in China Mobile’s online Mobile Market approached 150,000, according to a statement from the China Academy of Telecommunication Research under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.Beijing-based research firm Analysys International predicted that China’s mobile Internet market will reach 429.6 billion yuan (68.19 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015.China added 50.9 million Internet users in 2012, bringing the total to 564 million at the end of last year, according to data released Tuesday by the China Internet Network Information Center.The number of mobile Internet users increased 18.1 percent to 420 million, with mobile phones becoming the primary channel for using the Internet in China.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/technology/39795-china-is-top-smartphone-maker

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The NTC tests covered the network of the two major telecommunication firms in the whole of Metro Manila.

“Both Smart [Communications Inc.] and Globe got passing marks in these tests conducted last December, involving postpaid subscribers” NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said.

“The gains of our network modernization are now being felt more than ever by our customers—this is paramount for us and we are happy with this development,” Globe Telecom Chief Executive Officer Ernest Cu observed.

Through the last three quarters of the NTC-initiated tests, Globe has demonstrated enhanced performance resulting in progressively improving scores.

Citing the rapid advancement of its modernization program, now close to completion of the first phase at 84 percent, Cu sees “that full equipment replacement and systems overhaul will increasingly bring about greater and better-than-standards performance and along with it, a differentiating customer experience.”

The latest results showed that Globe is surpassing NTC benchmarks such as its 2-percent rating for Blocked Calls or Grade of Service, which more than met the less-than-4-percent performance-standard.

In other categories, the dropped call rate of Globe was at 1.2 percent, which is much better versus the lower-than 2-percent standard. While its Average Receive Signal Level, referring to signal strength, at -71.78dBm, is better than the -85dBm standard, its Average Signal Quality, on the other hand, improved to 0.94, now much closer to the optimal zero standard.

Call Set-Up Time of Globe at 11.98 is better than the 14-second standard for a called number to ring from the time a subscriber finishes dialing a number.

“Key cities nationwide are now enjoying our enhanced network with 3G [Third generation] and 4G HSPA+ [Fourth generation High Speed Packet Access plus]; but over and beyond NTC’s quarterly benchmarking, we at Globe keep personally checking and validating our network performance all over the country, do speed tests and get feedback from our customers,” Cu emphasized.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/business/top-business-news/39962-globe-posts-strong-gains-in-latest-benchmark-tests

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