PLDT, Smart select Nokia’s WING for breakthrough IoT services

PLDT Inc., through PLDT Enterprise and its Wireless arm Smart Communications. Inc., is in an advanced stage of discussion with long-time partner Nokia to provide next generation Internet of Things (IoT) services for its customers. Together, Smart and Nokia intend to build the “Smart IoT Platform” – the first of its kind for enterprises in the Philippines. This platform aims to help businesses easily deploy IoT services and solutions to manage their connected devices for growth opportunities in the future.

“IoT is a technological revolution with immense potential in improving the way we do things, and we are finalizing a partnership with Nokia to fortify our initiatives in this space. With Smart’s proven robust network and Nokia’s Global IoT ecosystem, this strategic partnership aims to simplify IoT deployment at scale,” said Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups. “Our aim is to further complement PLDT Enterprise’s already extensive solutions portfolio with the launch of this platform.”
With its newfound capability, PLDT Enterprise intends to scale its current LTE based IoT offerings. This platform will also enable their customers, to explore and deploy 5G based IoT solutions, on Smart’s 5G network — which is on a fully automated, software-defined network, launched earlier this year. Such transformation poised PLDT to be capable of delivering next generation digital services like Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in addition to IoT solutions, at a faster and more cost-effective rate. Now, with the platform being available for 5G IoT use cases, customers can opt for different combinations of ultra-low latency, high security, and enhanced throughput based services—fortifying the group’s commitment to provide critical public services, real-time industrial monitoring and control, as well as remote healthcare.

Given this, the group aims for the public sector, as well as the transport & logistics, manufacturing, utilities, and retail industries to be among principal beneficiaries of the platform. These IoT solutions will be fully ready by 2021 but PLDT is already in discussions with enterprise clients that intend to utilize IoT technology for their operations.

The platform is set to be powered by Nokia’s Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING). This simplifies the expansion of current LTE based IoT to 5G based IoT solutions, providing mission critical services. The 5G ultra-low latency services are enabled by separating and extending the user plane functions (UPF) to the far network edge or enterprise premises. Such capability, of Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) technology, provides the support for real time, compute-intensive IoT services, such as AR/VR based maintenance.

Further, the PLDT Group’s roll-out of 5G SA (Standalone) will enable their customers to leverage WING’s cloud native architecture—effectively laying the groundwork for network slicing and providing them with more comprehensive 5G based IoT use cases.

“I look forward to seeing our Enterprise customers, utilizing this platform, to expand their deployment of IoT solutions and services, easily, on our LTE and 5G networks,” said Joachim Horn, PLDT Group Chief Technology Advisor. “This will also be a catalyst for the Philippines manufacturing industry, to embrace IR4.0.”

PLDT Enterprise and Nokia executives will introduce the Smart IoT Platform in time for the PLDT group’s upcoming Philippine Digital Convention (PH Digicon) 2020 on October 28-30, the first all-virtual event featuring key technology industry leaders with more than 10,000 expected global attendees.

“We recognize the great value potential of IoT. In 2025, the projected value creation potential is at US$3.7 Tn/year for factories, US$1.7 Tn/year for smart cities, and US$1.6 Tn/year for humans. With Nokia WING, we will continue to drive the adoption of next-generation technologies, providing our customers with not only connectivity but solutions to maximize their IoT potential,” said Andrew Cope, Country Manager for Nokia Philippines.

PH Digicon 2020 will introduce the latest industry 5.0 solutions to delegates and customers. The Industry 5.0 Breakout Session will cover enterprises’ need for a seamless, automated and zero-touch client experience. It will also tackle the co-existence of man and machine, and how this collaboration affects the ever-evolving digital world.