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HONG
KONG—The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT)
group is veering away from traditional retail voice
services and is now aggressively growing an
international mobile business by tapping overseas
Filipino workers, or OFWs,
PLDT
Global Corp., the international sales and marketing arm
of the PLDT Group, said the company’s international
mobile business in partnership with local operators in
Hong Kong and Singapore is becoming a more sustainable
business model.
PLDT
Global president Alfredo Panlilio said this model
yielded favorable economic returns and allowed the
company to introduce mobile innovations that feature the
best of Smart services in the Philippines and its
foreign partners abroad.
“We
achieved some success as a result of the company’s focus
on a stronger and more viable MVNO (mobile virtual
network operator) business model for the growing OFW
communities,” he said.
PLDT
Global launched its MVNO in
Hong Kong in August 2004. It was branded as “1528 Smart,” in partnership with Hong
Kong CSL Limited in April
2006. In
an earlier interview, Panlilio said the 1528 Smart
service raked in profits amounting to $24 million last
year.
These
international mobile services offer more than the
affordable call and text rates to the Philippines, as
they offer 24/7 all-Filipino customer service and
superior Filipino value-added services such as Smart
Load, Pasa Load, Smart Padala, Startext, StarCaller and
Catextism.
Under an
existing reseller agreement, PLDT Global offers
mobile-phone rates that are cheaper by as much as 50
percent compared to the rates of foreign networks. The
market consists of the 180,000 OFWs in Hong Kong.
An
estimated 87 percent of some the Hong Kong-based OFWs,
or more than 150,000, own mobile phones. Most of them
have prepaid subscription.
Panlilio
said the Hong Kong wireless business is expected to
further surge this year, owing to its growing customer
base of 55,000 at the end of last March.
PLDT
Global launched another MVNO in Singapore in partnership
with Mobile One called “Smart Pinoy.”
Singapore
achieved positive results faster after only 10 months of
commercial operation, amassing more than 35,000
customers in the first quarter of the year. “The cost of
the learning curve was obviously lower and the period
was shorter,” Panlilio said.
“Through
innovative products and services as well as strategic
partnerships, PGC has been able to penetrate the OFW
market effectively and boost its revenues in the
process,” he added.
PLDT
Global now operates in
Hong Kong,
Singapore,
United States, United Kingdom and the Middle East.
The
company will now focus on the MVNO business model to tap
the growing OFW communities in Asia, the United States
and Europe.
“Sustaining Filipino ties and profitability through
organic business expansions remain our biggest
challenges. Expansion through acquisition seems
difficult given the absence of a company offering the
same basket of services. My team understands that it’s
not an easy undertaking but I am glad that all are
committed and determined in taking the big leap,”
Panlilio said.
PLDT
Global has opened a shop in the
Middle East, offering Smart Communications Inc.’s remittance service
that use the mobile-phone based financial services
platform of the cellular firm.
The
platform enables mobile operators and banks to serve the
remittance needs of migrant populations in their
respective countries.
Gulf has
1.5 million Filipinos and is considered a key market,
Panlilio earlier said. |
