Philippine telco provider PLDT is intensifying its backing to the country’s startup community, aiming to collaborate with the next tech unicorn as it partners with IoT (Internet of Things) platform and solutions provider company ThingsPh.

PLDT, through its subsidiary ePLDT, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Things Ph to promote, develop, and help businesses gain access to an IoT ecosystem for easy deployment of IoT solutions.

ThingsPh provides clients and partners with a unified artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (AIoT) platform and applications that help them gather real-time data, analytics, and alerts on what’s happening in the sites and offices whenever and wherever. The platform features its capability to easily integrate with and work together with various systems, different IoT sensors, and even cameras.

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“We’ve seen the potential of startups in the country and we continuously recognize their drive and dedication to solve problems in our society that might just be game-changing innovation our country needs,” said Melvin Jeffrey Chan, VP and head of Enterprise Innovations and IoT Business Development, PLDT. “At the moment, we put a strong focus on startups that are specializing in emerging technologies such as IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, big data, hyper-automation, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance).”

Smart Office applications

For its enterprise business, PLDT has been introducing IoT solutions to government, large corporations, and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Along with its wireless subsidiary Smart, PLDT has established strong partnerships with industry leaders in expanding its connectivity and network coverage to power and drive the adoption of such solutions in the country including its deployment of high-speed 5G wireless broadband.

“Our proprietary platform is built to support the AIoT transformation journey of enterprises from POC to commercial deployments, from one to multiple sites and use cases,” said Ferdinand Yanto III, CEO and co-founder, ThingsPh. “We developed it with scalability in mind. Enterprises will not need to purchase multiple systems to support their IoT requirements whether they start with just a simple temperature monitoring and scale it up to complex ones.”

ThingsPh’s Smart Office applications help in efficiently managing office space operations from indoor air quality monitoring for DOH-DOLE compliance, electricity and water consumption, room occupancy, people counting to attendance monitoring. On the other hand, their Smart Retail applications include cold-storage temperature monitoring for food quality and safety, people counting for social distancing, and quality compliance with real-time monitoring of inventory status, and asset conditions.

“This partnership will accelerate our goal to help enterprises unlock the limitless possibilities with AIoT starting with real-time monitoring and analytics,” Yanto said. “It is time for our country to experience the impact of AIoT and this partnership is just the beginning. We are thrilled and eager to drive IoT in our country with the PLDT Group.”

PLDT Enterprise’s Innovation Lab and Ecosystem Partnership (Innolab) is looking for startup partners it can collaborate with and support. PLDT Innolab developed key thrusts, among which is innovation through collaboration and ecosystem build, which seek to co-develop solutions with startups as well as cultivate a community of innovators.