IT&E Donates $1,000 to MINA

IT&E Marketing Coordinator, Brad E. Ruszala, presents Mariana Islands Nature Alliance Executive Director, Sam Sablan, with a check for $1,000.

The funds will be used to support the 2013 Green Gala, MINA's largest fundraising event of the year.

Also pictured are Environmental Camp Project Manager, Catherine Shai (far right), and Micronesia Challenge Young Champion, Jojo Cruz (far left).

August 28, 2013 - Saipan, CNMI – The CNMI’s telecommunications leader continued to support the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance with a contribution to the next month’s Green Gala.

Branded as the “social event of the year,” the Green Gala is MINA’s largest fund raising event that allows the nonprofit organization to continue its conservation efforts of the diverse natural resources of the Northern Mariana Islands.

“This is our biggest event of the year and we count on support from our community partners like IT&E to allow us to continue increasing awareness for the protection and preservation of the CNMI's precious natural resources,” said MINA Executive Director, Sam Sablan.

According to Sablan, the 2012 edition of the Green Gala successfully raised critical funds that fueled projects and activities such as the Tasi Watch Program, the No Need Bag campaign, beach clean-ups, and the green recycle bins located at most CNMI beaches.

In addition to supporting the Gala, IT&E recently renewed its partnership with MINA through its island-wide recycling campaign. Since the program’s inception, IT&E has sponsored the removal of recycled materials from one of Saipan’s most popular venues, the Oleai Sports Complex.

“We appreciate our environment and we’re proud to support organizations like MINA who are dedicated to the keeping our islands beautiful,” said IT&E Marketing Manager, Hans Mickelson.

For more information about IT&E, contact IT&E Customer Care at 682-4ITE (4483).

 

"Like" IT&E

Have you seen our Facebook page? All you have to do is "Like" IT&E and you'll be connected to the fastest and most reliable network in the Marianas like never before. Get the latest updates on all of the events, teams and individuals IT&E sponsors and find the answers to all of your IT&E questions during your daily Facebook visits.

When you "Like" IT&E, you also have the inside track to free tickets to the coolest events in the Marianas, all sorts of IT&E gear, and new phones!

So "Like" IT&E on Facebook today and join a brand new dimension to the #1 Network in the Marianas!

LTE- "We Share The Blame"

From time to time our CEO shares his views with our community through Letters to the Editors of the local newspapers. In his most recent piece that was published in the Saipan Tribune, Mr. Ricky Delgado writes about the importance of being proactive and sculpting the right vision for the Commonwealth's future.


OPINION
Saturday, October 09, 2010

By Ricky Delgado

Special to the Saipan Tribune

While the CNMI’s politicians have incurred the ire of the population for the government’s shutdown, this blame should not be placed on their shoulders alone. For many years, all of us have realized that the CNMI has needed drastic economic changes, and yet, nothing has really been done to address the main reason behind the government shutdown: the ever-shrinking CNMI economy. Nothing has been done because the politicians we have elected want to get re-elected, and they dont believe the population wants real change. They believe the population wants the status quo. Hence, we are where we are: the pie keeps shrinking, and our besieged government is unable to keep thousands of government employees gainfully employed.

Article XII is still around, like an albatross around the economy. Because of it, local people cannot get loans to build houses, people from Japan, Guam, Korea, the Mainland, etc, can't buy houses. Developers of hotels and other tourism-related concerns don't reinvest in their properties because, it will be only a matter of time before they need to deal with the CNMI government to extend their leases, and who knows what position the government will take and who will be in power at that time, and what his or her position would be. So what does that mean for tourism? Well, the CNMI looks like a rundown cousin of Guam. Millions and millions of dollars are pouring into Guam real estate, creating jobs, government taxes, and we are left with their crumbs.

Doesn't it strike anyone as strange that the casino initiative has been rejected several times, while at the same time poker parlors are everywhere. If we are serious about tourism, shouldn't we be focusing on making sure that they leave a few dollars in the CNMI rather than the poor contract worker or local who can't even afford to be making any wagers? Let's have it clear once and for all: either we support gaming or we don't. But this mestizo arrangement doesn't work for the tourists. When was the last time you saw a tourist in your neighborhood poker parlor?

Singapore, a city where you get arrested for chewing gum, opened two casinos, and now expects an extra three millions tourists. And to discourage their own population from playing, they charge an entry fee of $80USD just to get in if you can't produce a foreign passport. Why cant we do the same? And if the decision is to market the CNMI as a family friendly destination, we should close everything that even has a hint of impropriety from Garapan, and all over the island. We are either in the mold of Puerto Rico or the Bahamas with a thriving casino scene and nightlife, or we are Disneyland. But we cant be a halfway house anymore.

Sadly the CUC is still government run, the CDA, which is supposed to be aggressively wooing companies with incentives is nonexistent, and a whole host of other legacy problems are not being dealt with aggressively for the betterment of the people. Change is scary. Change is difficult. But it is necessary.

In short, if we want to get the CNMI out of this mess, the population needs to send a clear message to our politicians that it is willing and eager to try out new things. Without that message, we will continue to fall further and further behind our neighbors, and the debates of eight-hour reductions, will turn into 24 or 32 hours or in the worse case, no work at all. No one wants it to come to that.

IT&E Sports In The News

IT&E Downs Wings Travel, 68-54

Congratulation to Team IT&E on a 14-point victory in its debut against Wings Travel in the QQ Rent-A-Car Basketball League.

Here's the story from the Marianas Variety:

IT&E won its first game of the QQ Rent a Car’s basketball league that officially took off last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada gymnasium. In the first official game of the night team IT&E was pegged up against team Wings Travel. In the first ten minutes of the game, IT&E proved to be one tough competitor as IT&E’s Ivan De Vero right away, buckets 10 points for his team playing fiercely with teammate Ehroll Peredo who contributed 6 points of his own.

Team Wings Travel had an answer to that calling as team player Edmark Mendoza scored 6 points for his team. Unfortunately during the first quarter of the game, team IT&E proved to be too much to beat. By the end of the first quarter, IT&E took a 6 point lead over Wings Travel.

In the opening of the second quarter, Brandon Talania and teammate fired three pointers playing side by side with teammate Edmark Mendoza who nailed 6 points in their high hopes that this would close the gap made in the first quarter.

Their hopes were crushed to pieces by team IT&E as Rommel Usi hammered 6 points playing hard with teammate Gener Lazona who also fired three pointers keeping a safe 7 point distance over Wings Travel by half time.

After a 10 minute break, IT&E played on fiercely widening the gap between them and the opposing team by ten points. Team IT&E was on an amazing winning escapade by the end of the third quarter.

As the last ten minutes of the game commenced, IT&E held on to their winning title by team player Ehroll Peredo bagging 12 points for the team. James Camacho of Wings Travel was only able to score 6 points for the team as IT&E played a very strong defense tactic. By the final siren, team IT&E won by 14 points, 68-54.

IT&E- E. Peredo 17, J. Tumaquip 12, I. De Vero 11, G. Lazona 8, J. Dayro 8, R. Usi 4, M. Usi 4.

Wings Travel- J. Camacho 12, E. Mendoza 11, B. Talania 9, D. Olivos 7.

Major Reinvestment in Marianas!

IT&E Improves Capacity and Coverage with $1-million Expansion Project

IT&E, the Marianas Communications leaders is proud to announce a new era of coverage and connectivity in the Marianas with the completion of the Capacity and Coverage Expansion Projects.

The $1-million upgrade included the installation of three new CDMA cell sites in Saipan at Gualo Rai and Kagman, and in Rota at the Northern Marianas College Library that enhanced voice and data capacity and coverage throughout the network including the zone between Songsong and Sinapalo villages.

In addition to the expanded coverage, IT&E integrated a second EV-DO carrier that doubled EV-DO capacity in Saipan’s busiest districts to address the anticipated future demand increases during periods of peak usage, and provided faster download speeds to IT&E subscribers who already enjoy the fastest network in the Marianas.

The project also included a hardware and software upgrade of the Packet Data Serving Nodes and EV-DO modules that serve the CNMI and Guam.

“We’re proud to be the first choice for communication in the Marianas, and we made these improvements to stay ahead of the demand of our customers, “ said IT&E Executive Vice President, Larry Knecht. “This project is an investment in IT&E’s future. It provides our subscriber base with an enhanced network that will exceed their demand for a faster and more complete communications experience.”

Customers who use IT&E’s BlackBerry service, aircards or smartphones can visit IT&E Customer Service where a knowledgeable Wireless Technician will upgrade their device to provide faster speeds on IT&E’s unparalleled data network.

“We brought our local customers a higher level of service that will better meet their needs in the Marianas,” said IT&E Engineering Manager, Velma Palacios. “The completion of this project enables us to continue our progress in other areas in which we can better serve our customers throughout our regional network.”

For more information about IT&E’s coverage and services, contact IT&E Customer Care at 682-4ITE (4483) at IT&E Customer Service on Middle Road.

Google Android vs. iPhone Operating Systems

When asked whether Apple's iPhone or Google Android Operating System was better, how do you think most people voted? That's what the trend trackers at Mashable.com wanted to find out during their weekly poll of online readers.

The results were pretty good for Google as voters overwhelmingly opted for the Android OS by better than 2-to-1. With over 10,000 free applications available and a developer friendly culture, Google has laid the foundation for a promising future in the wireless market. Read more here!

'Cause they're lea-ving, ona jet plane...

Meet some of the lucky winners of IT&E's Call N' Fly promo that is sending 120 of our customers to Manila in 2010! More to come, so be sure to keep your IT&E phone on and ready to go when we start calling our lucky winners at the end of the month!




Meet some of the lucky winners of IT&E's Call N' Fly promo that is sending 120 of our customers to Manila in 2010!