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THE
final word is in: with soaring temperatures, unintended
“tanning” and the specter of premature aging, the word
“Sun” is pretty much unpopular in this neck of the
woods. Well, save for the beachgoing crowd. Not to have
its namesake put in such a negative light (excuse the
pun), but Sun Cellular, one of the major purveyors of
wireless communications in the Philippines, is giving
Filipinos one...make that two reasons to love Sun.
This
summer season, Sun Cellular, in line with delivering
low-cost services to its customers, introduced a new
unlimited-calling scheme: Sun Call and Text Unlimited (CTU),
or unlimited intra-network calling for P25 a day for
prepaid subscribers.
Also
available is the CTU Combo 10, which gives subscribers
10 minutes of intra-network voice call, 40 intra-network
SMS and 10 inter-network SMS for P10 for one day.
Now,
while that might be a good thing in itself, Sun
Cellular’s taking no chances and has invited a new
endorser into its growing family of celeb hawkers, with
the timeless Aga Mulach having signed on as Sun
Cellular’s handsome new face. If the crowd’s reaction
during the press briefing (they went wild) is any
indication of things to come, Sun Cellular is looking at
a very sunny year indeed.
According to Lissed Gamboa of Sun Cellular, they thought
long and hard in finding an endorser who will match
Sun’s image.
“Obviously, Aga Muhlach was a natural choice because of
his popularity. But, more important, his image
personifies Sun’s image, which is bright and bold—inside
and out, he represents our values,” she said.
She
added that Aga draws his popularity across many
generations and will be valuable to Sun’s vision. For
his part, Aga said he went with Sun Cellular because
it’s like Jollibee in many ways when he joined the
fast-food icon to be its celebrity face more than a
decade ago.
“When I
started out in Jollibee, they had over 40 stores in the
country. Now, I think, they have over 600. If it plays
out the same way with Sun Cellular....” he said with a
knowing smile.
He also
said Sun Cellular approached him with its plans for
expansion and its commitment to continually upgrade its
services, adding that he appreciated its aggressiveness
in such a competitive market.
“It’s
really exciting to be part of this, and I would really
like to grow with Sun,” he added. Aga also gave his
thumbs-up to Sun’s programs offering unlimited-calling
schemes.
“It’s
really different to hear the voice of a loved one, and
that’s the Sun difference,” he said about the advantages
of calling over texting.
Meanwhile, lawyer William Pamintuan, spokesman for Sun
Cellular, said over a telephone interview that Sun is
really working hard in expanding its coverage. While its
coverage is already nationwide, it plans to add more
improvements, such as more cell sites. It plans to bring
the number up to 4,000 cell sites. He was unable to
provide the number of the existing number of cell sites.
He said
this expansion is in line with growing their business,
especially in terms of subscriber base. Sun Cellular
currently has about 5.5 million subscribers, he said.
In a
statement, the telco said it invests almost $300 million
annually for additional network infrastructure. This
effort has allowed Sun Cellular to reach most of the key
cities in the country, such as Metro Manila, Bulacan,
Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Batangas, Nueva Ecija, Cebu,
Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga and
General Santos.
According to Pamintuan, they have implemented many
marketing campaigns, such as getting Aga as an endorser,
and their new CTU calling schemes to deliver reasonable
rates to consumers.
“Customers are getting real value for their money with
Sun, especially in these times of escalating prices,” he
said.
“Sun
Cellular’s low rates offer a reprieve to many Filipinos,
and our customers will surely appreciate this more as
they can stretch the value of their pesos,” he added.
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