A robust pool of IT professionals is key to propelling the Philippines' digitization plans, according to PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Pangilinan made the statement during the recent media launch for the Philippine Digital Convention 2022 (PH Digicon), where he identified three basic ingredients that would power the country's digital shift.

"The basic prerequisite is connectivity and infrastructure, which is why we have invested about $10 billion over the past ten years in the networks of PLDT and Smart," Pangilinan said.

"Above that is the layer of solutions and applications, so that persons and companies can be more efficient," he added.

On top of these, Pangilinan also emphasized the importance of having trained professionals, as well as the availability of teachers to produce tech graduates, such as software engineers and programmers.

"I think the private sector can sponsor scholarships to help universities produce the talent our country needs," Pangilinan said, adding that the country also needs professors who would teach students who would become the professionals that the country needs in the future.

"Those are three basic ingredients that could provide an impetus to the digital pivot that we all want this country to take," he added.

In a statement, the group said that as part of their overall thrust to be at the forefront of the country's digital transformation, PLDT, through its B2B arm PLDT Enterprise, recently staged PH Digicon 2022, one of the most sought-after thought leadership events in the Asia-Pacific Region, both virtually and in-person at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City.

PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. have also been partnering with universities to produce industry-ready graduates under the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program, the first and longest-running industry-academe linkage in the Philippines established in 2003. Catherine Cueto