The Commission on Elections has approved the purchase of more satellite transmission equipment and one more printing press to guarantee that the preparatory goals for automated elections in May are met, poll chair Jose Melo said Wednesday.
Melo, in a press briefing, disclosed that Smartmatic-TIM, the company that won the contract to supply automated election machines, will buy more Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) equipment for the satellite transmission of the results of the May 10 polls.
The BGAN will be deployed in polling places as a backup transmission mode, should problems occur using the first method, which is via cell phone connectivity.
It has been noted that some areas have unreliable cell phone signals.
Melo said Smartmatic-TIM will be buying 500 BGAN and 650 Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) for transmitting election results from the precincts to municipal servers, via satellite.
The Comelec also noted that it has approved Smartmatic-TIM’s proposal to buy another printer to ensure that the 50 million ballots are printed in time for the first shipment on April 19.
Smartmatic-TIM has leased to the Comelec four Kodak VersaMark VL 4000 printers. Each printer is capable of printing 200,000 ballots.
Melo noted that there was a “slight delay” in the printing of the ballots. He said the additional machine, which will be placed at the National Printing Office, will be “coming very shortly.”
The news of an additional machine came after some sectors revealed that the printing plant at the NPO was behind schedule and expressed fears the poll body would not meet its printing deadline.
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