Comelec to conduct nationwide election results transmission tests

To assess their readiness to transmit election results on Election Day, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will conduct a series of transmission tests nationwide this month. “We want to see if we can accurately transmit the results on Election Day,” Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said in an interview. The poll chief also revealed that Smartmatic International, their technology provider, already conducted a site survey. “Just so we have an idea which sites have strong signals and which telecommunication provider has a strong signal,” said Bautista. But, he said, they will use satellite if there is a signal problem on Election Day. “If there is a signal problem, we will use the satellites,” Bautista said. However, the poll chief explained that they are set to primarily use Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards because “they cost less.” The satellite-based Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) will be used as back-up. During the 2013 [...]