Smart, Samsung expand partnership

Smart Communications, a unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., and South Korean electronics giant Samsung are expanding their long-standing partnership to deliver full-service packaged solutions for large businesses.

A statement showed that PLDT/Smart and Samsung Philippines are extending the tie-up to develop and offer Samsung devices with PLDT/Smart service offerings designed for corporate clients like the Smart M2M (machine to machine) solutions.

“We are excited to further strengthen our ties with a globally admired brand such as Samsung. This partnership definitely adds value to the services we provide our customers and bolsters our position as the preferred trusted ICT provider of large enterprises,” said PLDT executive vice president and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto. “We are confident that, through this continued support and partnership, the PLDT Group will sustain its leadership and bring forth exciting solution bundles, both in hardware and software offerings to the market.”

Through this partnership, PLDT/Smart and Samsung will co-develop specialized business solutions for the enterprise level with an “operated dedicated support” agreement including dedicated after-sales hotlines for business-to-business handset models, and full participation in commercialization and co-branding in marketing efforts.

“We are looking forward to this extended tie-up as this will greatly benefit our market in terms of marketability of Samsung when partnered with a longstanding enabler such as PLDT and Smart. We are hopeful that this collaboration can give compelling business innovations suitable for the current market,” Samsung Philippines president Harry Lee said in the same statement.

Since partnering with Samsung, PLDT/Smart has offered specialized business packages that bundle Samsung devices with business connectivity and solutions targeted at both enterprise and SME businesses.

This extended partnership will enhance service offerings of the PLDT Group as it promotes business mobility solutions for enterprise markets such as the PLDT Cloud, M2M, and the Internet of Things.