Enterprise
Globe senior advisor Dan Horan talks data cap, fiber, Netflix deal, and content creation and distribution
Globe Telecom, one half of the Philippines’ telco duopoly, held its first Wonderful Wold with Globe event last June 24. And on the sidelines of the evening’s program that saw Netflix, Sports Illustrated, and Turner Broadcasting, among others, joining Globe’s growing list of content partners, we spoke with Globe chief advisor Dan Horan about data capping, expanding fiber-internet service in the Philippines, what the Netflix partnership will look like and mean for customers, and his company’s evolution into a content provider.
Spoiler alert: Data capping — two words you should never ever say to an avid internet user — is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Or at least as far as Globe’s mobile and broadband services are concerned. On a more positive note, Horan hinted at the likelihood that data rates would drop over time.
This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity.
GadgetMatch: You introduced several new content partners this evening. How will your expanded list of streaming services affect your data-capping scheme?
Dan Horan: Obviously, over time content changes. Now, we’re seeing lots of on-demand videos. As you know, we just launched a partnership with Netflix.
One of the things that’s really important is that we’re continuously building our networks to allow services to truly operate well. Earlier, you saw speeds of up to 100Mbps, which is more than enough for video services. We’re also building our WiFi networks. In many shopping malls, you see our up-to-100Mbps WiFi connections. We offer those connections for free, and not just to Globe customers. We’re also building our broadband network, which is physically the hardest because you have to go from house to house.
All of those have different cost structures and different capabilities, and they cost a lot of money. The investment in San Miguel Corporation alone cost us three quarters of a billion U.S. dollars. As much as I would love to offer our carrier services for free, we do need to recover some money. So it’s a delicate balancing act between making our shareholders happy and getting content in the hands of consumers affordably and fast.
You’ll see over the next few months that we will start to introduce more and more data options. And in the coming years, we will be adjusting our packages and prices to allow the Filipino community to get as much content as we can give them.
Fiber expansion is a topic of interest among internet users in the country. What are your plans for the future?
We have so many new things coming. One of the things we’re working on right now is that we’re putting future builds on our website to give you an idea when fiber will be available in your area. We also have $60 million in terms of upgrades happening on a lot of existing infrastructure as we speak.
Binondo is a good example, where we installed fiber everywhere. So if you want gigabyte speeds in that area, we can give it to you finally. I can also tell you that we have a big investment right now, and within the next three or four months, you’re gonna be seeing a lot of new locations that we’ll be upgrading with fiber. In Quezon City, there will be a lot of locations.
Netflix mentioned earlier that Globe is its first partner in the Philippines. How will the deal impact consumers?
So we signed an exclusive agreement with Netflix. And what that means is that customers will soon start to see services from Globe and Netflix that won’t be available anywhere else. It will be a mixture of both content and streaming packages. I can’t be more specific, but you’ll start to see things that are currently not available in the Philippines.
Let’s talk about Globe’s transformation into an entertainment company. Is this the next crucial step for your company?
Absolutely. We don’t treat ourselves as a telco anymore. I don’t think anybody mentioned megabytes or gigabytes or things of that nature tonight. You saw stories, you saw emotions, you saw brands that bring content to life. For us, those brands go hand-in-hand with our networks. The two have to work together.
With Globe Studios (which will produce original films and shows for the company), for example, we have the ability to make our own content, which we couldn’t have done before, and deliver it to anyone, anytime, anywhere. For me, that’s where we start to think of things from a lifestyle perspective.
A big question is where Globe Studios will put the content it creates. Will it only be available on Globe portals?
No, not at all. What’s great is that we can put the content in different platforms. We can put it in the cinema, and take it from cinema to subscription and so forth. The others we can upload to YouTube; some we can put in services like Astro, HOOQ, and Netflix. What Globe Studios gives the Filipino community is a platform to create content and monetize it internationally. If we have something that’s marketable worldwide, then why not?
[irp posts=”9513″ name=”Globe Prepaid Home WiFi review”]
Enterprise
Google illegally destroys 250,000 trees for a single AI data center
This is what we stand to lose with data centers.
In the Philippines, it’s illegal to cut down a single tree without a permit. It’s a constant reminder that the preservation of nature should be a civil, besides being a moral, obligation. And yet, corporations are seemingly immune from obligations and morals. Google, the company that used to stand for “Don’t be evil,” shows off its true colors by illegally cutting down 250,000 trees in Finland for a datacenter.
As first reported by The Guardian, Finland is now staring at 330 hectares of land suddenly denuded of around 250,000 valuable trees, all thanks to Google. A local ecologist has also said that the company killed a further 150,000 trees at a separate site.
The environmental desecration is part of Google’s multibillion-dollar push to build data centers all over the world for artificial intelligence. Google has since been ordered to stop the development in the country after Finland found that the company acted without securing the needed assessments and permits to clear the area.
Google brushed away the report by saying that they acted “on the best understanding we had of the legislation at the time.” The company also said that they are protecting the water quality at the affected sites and committed to replanting trees across 130 hectares, a pale comparison to the total area affected.
Other AI companies are also trying to weasel their way into other countries to build data centers. An example is the controversial Pax Silica in the Philippines. Finland now stands as a cautionary tale against the unimpeded and unsupervised growth of data centers for a service that no one asked for.
Don’t be evil, my ass.
Enterprise
Chimelong’s newest attraction might be the robots themselves
The future of travel is here, and it knows tai chi!
Imagine checking into a theme park and greeting a humanoid robot. A few hours later, you watch one perform tai chi. Another challenges you to table tennis. Yet another helps you navigate to the next attraction. By nightfall at your hotel, robots enhance the experience again.
This vision drives the latest collaboration between AGIBOT and Chimelong Group. Together, they brought over 300 robots to Chimelong Spaceship Park in Zhuhai, China.
This launch represents a massive real-world application of embodied AI in tourism. AGIBOT and Chimelong integrated these robots across entertainment, education, visitor services, retail, and hospitality. They act as active participants rather than remaining confined to a single demonstration area.
The timing celebrates a notable milestone, too. During the launch, Chimelong received the 20,000th robot to roll off AGIBOT’s production line.
Your next theme park companion could be a robot
At Chimelong Spaceship Park, robots act as part of the total visitor experience. Guests don’t just stop to watch them from afar.
Some take on entertainment roles by performing martial arts, gymnastics, and tai chi. Others interact directly with guests through table tennis and hands-on manipulation challenges.
Designers also created robots for the quieter moments of a park day. They answer questions, introduce exhibits, and guide visitors through designated areas.
In retail settings, robots assist shoppers with their purchases. Meanwhile, hotel deployments place them in guest-facing roles to welcome visitors and hold multi-turn conversations.
Consequently, your trip involves encountering robots in several different contexts. The journey stretches seamlessly from your park arrival to your hotel return.
When the robots become part of the show
Theatrical applications are perhaps the easiest to picture. AGIBOT and Chimelong incorporate robots into live performances alongside human actors, music, and lighting.
Rather than treating a humanoid robot as a mere technological curiosity onstage, creators coordinate multiple robots into fluid routines.
Elsewhere, visitors engage with robots through games and educational activities. This creates a highly interactive, hands-on introduction to embodied AI.
Theme parks offer a perfectly fitting setting for this technology. Parks historically excel at making technology disappear into the magic. Engineers design animatronics, immersive environments, special effects, and automated rides to serve the story.
Humanoid robots push this idea into new territory. They communicate, navigate physical spaces, respond to people, and adapt to different settings with ease.
A robot-filled day does not stop at the park gates
The collaboration naturally extends into Chimelong’s hospitality operations.
Robots welcome hotel guests, hold complex conversations, and offer highly personalized interactions. This introduces an interesting possibility for resorts. Technology can now follow visitors beyond the main attraction and enhance the broader destination.
Travelers will soon experience trips where the boundaries between attraction, service, and technology blur entirely.
A robot might serve as your tour guide. Next, you could watch a robotic entertainment performance. Finally, a mechanical host could wait downstairs in your hotel lobby.
Potentially, the robot you meet in one area connects directly to the wider system operating backstage.
Making hundreds of robots work together
Deploying over 300 robots into a busy tourism destination requires massive coordination.
AGIBOT, Chimelong, and China Mobile established a dedicated 5G network. This ensures stable connectivity across high-traffic areas. The team uses centralized coordination to manage robots moving through various park and hotel environments.
Comprehensive operational systems also handle network security, privacy protection, charging, and fire safety.
Guests easily overlook this infrastructure while watching a robot perform tai chi. Yet, this backend framework remains one of the most fascinating aspects of the project. A theme park represents a highly complicated environment. Thousands of people constantly move through spaces shifting rapidly from one experience to another.
Making robots useful here means teaching them to embody the destination itself.
The beginning of a bigger experiment
AGIBOT and Chimelong are establishing a joint research institute for embodied AI in tourism.
This institute will explore new applications, operating models, and technologies. Researchers will draw directly from the experience of this massive deployment. The first project phase lays the groundwork to expand robot usage across all Chimelong properties.
For now, the appeal remains fairly simple. Creators build theme parks on the promise of making ordinary life feel extraordinary.
Chimelong bets that humanoid robots will increasingly spark that exact magic.
Enterprise
AGIBOT just topped the medal table at the World Humanoid Robot Games
The robots that did it are already clocking in at real factories.
AGIBOT entered its first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on August 26 and walked away with a dominant victory.
The company claimed 18 gold, 16 silver, and 12 bronze medals, securing 46 total podium finishes and topping both the gold and overall medal standings.
Designed to stress-test humanoid machines in sports, fine manipulation, and real-world duties, the Games evaluated robots across events ranging from martial arts to hotel service and emergency response.
AGIBOT swept through these categories, earning top spots in motion control, obstacle racing, and daily practical tasks.
The true triumph lies in what remained unchanged on competition day. AGIBOT fielded its standard production lineup, including the OmniHand, G2, A3, and X2.
None of these units were custom-built to win medals, as every machine came straight from active commercial deployments.
Precision and agility straight off the assembly line
The OmniHand reached the finals in all eight dexterous manipulation events and brought home seven gold medals.
It aced delicate challenges like Block Building, Powder Weighing, and Bean Picking with Tweezers, proving that fine motor control matters just as much as raw power.
In motion control, the AGIBOT X2 captured gold in the 100m obstacle race while adding silver and bronze in the 400m sprint.
Meanwhile, the AGIBOT A3 secured gold in Tai Chi. The X2 competed in its standard commercial configuration without any hardware modifications.
Powering the X2 is AGIBOT’s proprietary AGILE framework, short for AgiBot Generative Intelligent Locomotion Engine.
This system blends real-time environmental perception with autonomous decision-making to navigate sudden obstacles and changing terrain.
By combining precise parameter identification with seamless simulation-to-reality transfer, the framework maintains rock-solid stability when transitioning from code to physical ground.
Proven intelligence on actual factory floors
AGIBOT earned five golds in real-world scenarios, dominating tasks across library operations, hotel services, and emergency response.
The G2 robot behind these wins is the exact same model currently operating on factory floors for manufacturers like Longcheer and SAIC.
Its operational intelligence stems from AGIBOT’s ViLLA embodied foundation model GO, the world model GE, and its RW-RL system. These combined technologies sharpen perception and planning inside unpredictable work environments.
While the 46-medal tally commands headlines, the deeper story is that mass-produced robots won without special modifications.
AGIBOT proves that general-purpose intelligence paired with commercial hardware can adapt across varied scenarios. Embodied AI is finally stepping out of isolated lab demos and into consistent, repeatable work where it matters most.
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