May 2010
WIT Successfully Implements World's Largest Deployment of Satellite Technology
WIT has successfully provided satellite services for the municipal and provincial canvassing centers in the last 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and the 2022 automated elections in the country.
VSAT and BGAN Transmits Mission Critical Election Data
Mandaluyong City, Philippines – We are I.T. Philippines, Inc. (WIT), a leading satellite service provider based in the Philippines, announced today that it has successfully provided satellite services for the 79% of the Municipal and Provincial Canvassing Centers in the Philippines' 1st Automated Elections. BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) was primarily used to transmit data from remote polling centers, while VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) was used in municipal and provincial canvassing centers. In some instances, BGANs were used to transmit data from polling centers located in urban areas due to reliability challenges of the Telcos.
Angel Diaz, Telecoms Manager of Smartmatic TIM, in a recent announcement said, “Today, I’m glad to certify that We are I.T. Philippines Inc. (WIT) participated in the first successful automated elections in the Philippines as a satellite service provider that supported and served as spinal column for the Telecommunication infrastructure that brought the electoral data to main places in the canvassing level. Once the voting process closed and the transmission process began, millions of people around world were waiting for the official results of the elections. Less than 24 hours later, more than 90% of all the results had been transmitted and tallied after closing the polls bringing calm and peace to the process.”
Diaz further stated that “…the service provided by WIT was crucial at the Canvassing level bringing electoral data from polling centers to 680 places using VSATs and others 681 Canvassing centers using BGANs. Additional to this, 4,819 polling centers where assigned BGANs as the transmission media. These figures represented 79% of the Canvassing Centers, a percentage that shows the importance of WIT in the success of the project.”
WIT welcomed this statement from Smartmatic TIM with profound appreciation. “It was a culmination of hard work and dedication on the part of WIT personnel to ensure the smooth flow of data transmission using the satellite network during election day.” says Rodolfo L. Ramirez, Jr., Project Director of WIT.
According to WIT’s COO, Joseph P. Maddatu, “We are proud of this feat and the legacy that we are leaving behind in the country’s first-ever automated elections.”
We are I.T. Philippines, Inc. (WIT) was contracted by Smartmatic TIM to provide turnkey satellite connectivity services after a lengthy international tender process. More than 600 VSAT and 5000 BGAN services were used by the Commission on Election (COMELEC) to render secure and reliable connectivity services, thus making this the biggest single deployment of satellite services in the world.
About Smartmatic
Smartmatic is a multinational company that designs and deploys technological solutions aimed at helping governments fulfill, in the most efficient way, their commitments with their citizens. It is one of the largest cutting-edge technology suppliers, with a wide and proven experience in the United States, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Smartmatic's competitive strength lies on its cutting-edge technology and expertise in three key areas: Election Solutions, Identity Management Solutions and Public Safety Solutions.