{"id":36777,"date":"2019-10-12T14:55:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T06:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=36777"},"modified":"2019-10-12T14:55:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-12T06:55:51","slug":"now-forges-alliance-with-unionbank-for-5g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2019\/10\/12\/now-forges-alliance-with-unionbank-for-5g\/","title":{"rendered":"NOW forges alliance with UnionBank for 5G"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>UnionBank of the Philippines signed late yesterday (October 9, 2019) a memorandum of understanding with publicly listed information and communications technology company NOW Corporation and affiliate NOW Telecom to utilize and promote the use of new generation telecommunication networks, including 5G or the fifth generation of wireless technology, in support of the bank\u2019s digital transformation roadmap.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW Corporation is currently the country\u2019s largest fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband provider. Using NOW\u2019s pioneering Fiber Air technology, it delivers guaranteed broadband services to enterprises, as well as commercial and residential buildings.\u00a0 NOW has established an FWA network infrastructure in Metro Manila and has connected more than 400 buildings with service coverage of up to two kilometers per building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW\u2019s Fiber\nAir not only provides guaranteed connection and utmost reliability, but also\ndoes away with data caps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW Corp\u2019s\npartnership with telecommunications affiliate NOW Telecom enables the former to\ndeliver high capacity gigabit of bandwidth internet access, which is both scalable\nand easily repeatable nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are\nexcited to work with UnionBank of the Philippines as we co-market the use of\nnext generation networks which includes 5G.&nbsp;\nThe potential for 5G in financial services would include reduced video\nlag for real-time video chat and consultations between bankers and consumers,\nfull-power mobile pop-up branches, shift to the cloud for mobile banking, and\nmore accurate fraud detection and cybersecurity,\u201d NOW Corp. deputy CEO Rodolfo\nPantoja said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW Telecom,\nof which Pantoja is also the president, is a grantee of a 25-year congressional\nfranchise to engage in the business of providing telecommunications services\nthroughout the Philippines and other countries and territories, including outer\nspace. It was also granted by the National Telecommunications Commission an\nauthority to install, operate and maintain cellular mobile telephone system\n(CMTS) services<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UnionBank,\nthe country\u2019s best digital bank, has revolutionized the banking industry by\ngoing full throttle in terms of its digital banking offering in the Philippine\nmarket.&nbsp; It has even created its own\nfinancial technology unit, UBX, which holds its technology initiatives,\nplatforms and investments in fintech companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials\nnoted that 5G is going to drive the enterprise industry and UnionBank wants to\nbe at the forefront of utilizing and promoting the use of new technologies in\nthe banking system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to\nthe MOU, UnionBank is embarking on resilient digital transformation which would\nbe enabled by new capabilities and platforms, among which would be\nnext-generation network (NGN) technology such as 5G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MOU would\nallow both parties to undertake co-marketing activities to promote NOW\u2019s\nbroadband capabilities including NGN and UnionBank\u2019s digital transformation, as\nwell as technological products and services enabled by next generation networks\nincluding 5G which both parties may collaborate on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Signing the MOU are NOW Telecom president\nRodolfo Pantoja, NOW Corp. chief technology officer Rene Rosales, and UnionBank\nvice president for enterprise communication and collaboration Paulo Martin\nSantos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last\nOct. 2, NOW Corp. entered into a multi-year agreement with UnionBank for the\nprovision of guaranteed broadband internet access in support of the bank\u2019s\ndigital transformation roadmap.&nbsp;&nbsp;The first activated site with a one\nGbps broadband connectivity via fixed wireless is UnionBank\u2019s corporate\nheadquarters in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nagreement with Unionbank strengthens NOW\u2019s position to provide guaranteed\nbroadband connectivity for enterprises via its fixed wireless network\ninfrastructure that it has established in Metro Manila.&nbsp;&nbsp;NOW has\npioneered \u201cFiber Air\u201d and has since then became the largest fixed wireless\naccess (FWA) broadband provider in the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both\nparties also agreed to explore utilizing NOW Fiber Air for its branches and for\nother sites owned and operated by the Aboitiz-led bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW\nalso announced last week its entry in the gigabit era by providing gigabit\nbroadband plans to its subscribers. The roll-out of its gigabit broadband plans\nwill be available in Metro Manila, mainly for its enterprise clients. This is\nmade possible thru NOW\u2019s fixed wireless access (FWA) network infrastructure\nthat it has established by using high-capacity and proprietary radio antennas\nexclusive to NOW\u2019s access to frequencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According\nto Now Corp. head of strategy Kristian Pura, they are now offering gigabit\nplans of guaranteed broadband internet to their subscribers, something which\ntheir technology allows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pura\nsaid they will push the envelope with their high capacity fixed wireless\nsolution, which applies to prospective enterprise and retail subscribers.\nExisting enterprise subscribers, can however opt for gigabit upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW\nCorp\u2019s partnership with telecommunications affiliate NOW Telecom, allows for\nits pioneering FWA infrastructure, making the former capable of providing\nefficient delivery of high capacity, gigabit bandwidth internet access, both\nscalable and easily repeatable nationwide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW\u2019s service positioning is its guaranteed broadband internet where advertised speeds are committed speeds to subscribers. The company upgraded and quadrupled its capacity to 2.40Gbps in 2018, with technological costs lowering, and bandwidth capacity solutions increasing. It has connected more than 400 buildings with service coverage of up to 2km per building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOW Telecom president Rodolfo Pantoja said that this inverse relationship between technological costs and high marginal value is the core element that keeps NOW\u2019s business model thriving. He added that especially in the fixed wireless space where bandwidth capacity solutions are exponentially increasing, NOW has the right footing to maneuver this competitive space. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MOU would allow both parties to undertake co-marketing activities to promote NOW\u2019s broadband capabilities including NGN and UnionBank\u2019s digital transformation, as well as technological products and services enabled by next generation networks including 5G which both parties may collaborate on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":36778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1978,6424,96,4962],"class_list":["post-36777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-5g","tag-now-corp","tag-technology","tag-unionbank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}