Smart expands Siargao 5G for Philippines’ first WSL Tour stop

By James Calloway

Smart Communications expanded 5G coverage and capacity across Siargao ahead of the World Surf League Championship Tour at Cloud 9 in General Luna, with the competition running until November 10. The deployment covers Cloud 9, Siargao Airport, Siargao Seaport and other strategic locations for the first WSL Championship Tour stop hosted by the Philippines.

Smart, the event's official telecommunications partner, said the upgrades build on its existing 5G network and provide faster mobile connectivity for residents, tourists, athletes, media practitioners and spectators. The company did not disclose added cell sites, a coverage percentage, peak throughput or subscriber figures, leaving the scale of the capacity increase unquantified.

“Siargao is an important tourism destination, and we are committed to supporting its continued growth through reliable connectivity,” said Lloyd R. Manaloto, Smart's First Vice President and officer-in-charge. Manaloto said the WSL partnership creates an opportunity to deliver better digital experiences to athletes, visitors and local communities.

The competition brings international surfing talent and visitors to Siargao. Neither Smart nor WSL published an attendance forecast, event traffic estimate or value for the telecommunications partnership. The announcement therefore establishes where Smart has worked but not the expected subscriber load or the commercial scale of its sponsorship.

What does the upgrade change for Siargao?

For residents and businesses, Smart says broader, higher-capacity 5G can support digital payments, accommodation and transportation bookings, real-time communication and the sharing of travel experiences online. The company also expects local businesses to use mobile connectivity to process transactions and engage customers. These are proposed use cases, not measured outcomes; the announcement supplies no adoption, transaction or revenue data.

Visitor packages and device options

Smart has paired the network work with visitor packages. The commercial offer starts at PHP 90 for three days and includes unlimited 5G data plus non-stop 4G data under select Smart Unli 5G offers.

That is the only monetary figure attached to the event offer. Smart did not specify which variants qualify beyond describing them as select offers, and it published no separate activation terms for the complete package.

Smart Postpaid subscribers can also choose plans with Smart Device Link, which lets them share their primary mobile number and plan with a smartwatch. The shared number and plan support calls, texts and mobile data even when the subscriber's iPhone is not nearby. The announcement does not identify eligible handset models, smartwatch models or plan prices for this option.

Smart also offers freebies to subscribers who activate select offers at designated booths and partner stores in Siargao. It did not list the gifts or participating retailers, so the offer's value cannot be assessed from the announcement.

Smart describes the Siargao work as part of a continuing investment in mobile connectivity across the Philippines. It did not disclose the investment amount, spending schedule or equipment suppliers. Nor did it identify the spectrum bands used for the 5G upgrades, limiting independent assessment of capacity and coverage claims.

The operator also cited Ookla recognition for Best Mobile Latency and Best Mobile Video Experience. Those awards support the company's service-quality positioning, but the announcement gives no test period, market breakdown or underlying measurements, so they do not establish the performance of the newly upgraded Siargao sites.

The next checkpoint is practical: whether Smart can maintain 5G service through the event period ending November 10 and convert temporary visitor packages into regular island usage. The company has set the coverage footprint and a PHP 90 entry offer.

The next disclosure that matters is measured performance during the event, including capacity headroom and uptake of the visitor packages. Until then, Smart has established the deployment locations, the November 10 endpoint and the starting offer price, but not the traffic or investment numbers required to judge the upgrade's scale.