PLDT unveils one-stop digital hub

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. unveiled yesterday its first converged store for flagship brands PLDT, Smart and Cignal located in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig to serve as a one-stop digital hub for customers.

Located at the ground floor of the World Plaza Building, the one-stop digital hub is expected to make it easier for customers of PLDT, wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. and pay television provider Cignal to access digital solutions for home and mobile.

“We envision the PLDT-Smart store to be an ultimate go-to for digital solutions,” PLDT-Smart chief revenue officer Eric Alberto said.

“With this converged store, we hope to make it easier and more rewarding for our customers to enjoy cutting-edge digital solutions for home and mobile,” he said.

The converged store is supervised by experience officers trained to handle customer concerns and give advice depending on the customer’s digital requirements.

Aside from officers, the store has digital installations to cater to different customer needs.

In particular, there is a self-service InfoTouch booth to allow customers to view and print billing summaries, check account details and make repair requests.

There is also a Smart Super Kiosk which customers can use to settle their bills or request a change of SIM card.

Those deciding on a broadband plan, meanwhile, can use the broadband visualizer to check data usage, as well as estimate download and upload times.

The store also has an interactive table through which guests can browse, play, watch or listen to music, and an augmented reality wall for customers who want to take life-size photos with various filters.

PLDT’s move to launch the converged store follows the recent rollout of the Best Buy Bundle which offers PLDT Home Fibr, Smart mobile, and Cignal plans with big discounts.

Apart from a unified bill for the three brands, the Best Buy Bundle offers huge savings of up to P11,300 a year.

PLDT chairman and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said the plan is to set up more converged stores and expand the coverage of the bundle being offered to customers.

“So, eventually, it (bundle) will spread out to TV5, sports and to the print and other things. We have big plans so we can bundle the group services,” he said.

“There will be more digital stores nationwide,” he said.