Smart partners with Acer for DepEd-compliant e-learning tools

Incoming students may now avail of a convenient and affordable gadget bundle to help them participate in their online classes this school year, through a new partnership of Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Acer Philippines (Acer).

Under this partnership, parents can avail of the Smart School Bundle, which consists of an Acer Aspire 5 laptop, and a Smart Bro LTE Pocket WiFi.

The 14-inch Aspire 5 laptop comes with an Intel® Core™ i3 -813OU 2.2 GHz Base Speed with Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz, am 8GB DDR4 memory, 128 SSD + 1TB HDD. The bundle also already includes a Windows 10 Home OS, and other features that can help students cope with their school requirements.

Meanwhile, the Smart Bro LTE Pocket WiFi can help students connect to Smart’s fastest Long Term Evolution (LTE) network across the country whenever they attend video conferences, or submit their homework online.

These gadgets are compliant with the Department of Education’s minimum specifications for devices for distance learning, as the country continues to face the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We believe that e-learning is an important building block under the new normal – where education will be driven largely by digital tools and products. We hope that through this partnership, we can help students make a smooth transition to distance learning, and help make sure that no learner is left behind,” said Precy P. Katigbak, FVP and Head of National Key Accounts at Smart.

“It has always been our mission to enable Filipino students by providing them the tools that they need in their education. With this partnership, we hope to give them not only the means to do their school work, but also the connectivity through Smart’s network, so that students can continue to learn amid the pandemic,” said Manuel Wong, Managing Director at Acer Philippines.

Aside from students, this gadget bundle can also provide reliable tools and LTE connectivity to teachers, employees, and other professionals who are also working from home.

Smart LTE continues to provide the best mobile data experience, particularly for video, to customers across the country. According to independent mobile analytics firm Opensignal’s latest Philippines Mobile Network Experience Report released in April, Smart surpassed competition in most metrics, including Video Experience, where Smart posted a score of 55, well ahead of competition’s 39.8.

“We have invested billions of pesos in our mobile phone network over the last few years to and this has enabled to serve our subscribers well, especially during this pandemic,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart. “At the end of the day, our goal is to make sure that our customers have a good experience with us, and that our network can help them achieve their goals in school or at work,” added Basas.

The Smart School Bundle is available at all Acer concept stores and distributors nationwide.

For more information, visit www.smart.com.ph.