TELECOMMUNICATIONS providers in the Philippines could benefit from the emergence of online-based businesses, but the immediate gains could only be realized once local mobile operators have already improved their data coverage.
This was learned from an executive of a top online vehicle platform Carmudi Philippines, who challenged local telecommunications players to further modernize their already-improved mobile-data network.
“Currently, the low mobile-data usage and penetration is one of the challenges they see when it comes to online-based businesses like Carmudi,” Subir Lohani, managing director of Carmudi Philippines, said on Friday. The challenge for telecommunications providers, he said, is to provide an ample amount of data allocations to their subscribers.
“More and more people are using their phones and tablets when browsing the Internet, and what hinders them to view sites like Carmudi is having the mobile-data cap,” Lohani said. Both Smart Communications Inc.—the operator of mobile brands Smart, Talk ’N Text and Sun Cellular—and Globe Telecom Inc. have their own versions of fair-use policies: a set of rules and guidelines for data usage. The amount of mobile data to be consumed through Web browsing depends on which plan a customer subscribed to.
The demand for mobile browsing in the Philippines is high, with mobile penetration at 111 percent, and this in itself, he said, is an indication that the local mobile players should start stepping up their game.
“It also has the second-highest penetration rate of Facebook in the world, at 93-percent, after Brazil. Combining all this with a young and Internet-savvy population is a natural progression for people to go online for their needs due to convenience, product variety and everybody’s busy schedules,” Lohani said.
If the mobile-data usage would increase, he said better business opportunities would flood in an emerging country like the Philippines, which, in turn, could attract more investors, such as those companies affiliated with Rocket Internet, a Berlin-based technology company.
“Taking offline businesses online increases overall productivity and time spent for standard day-to-day tasks, allowing people to cherish their free time,” the executive said.
At present, Carmudi is enjoying a high volume of users in its platform.
“We are seeing high growth in users using our platform. Our monthly visits reach over 700,000, with monthly leads to dealers of 25,000 plus,” he said. “And these figures could increase drastically, depending on how the mobile-data cap issue is resolved.”
Lohani said Carmudi is bullish on the local market, especially with strong economic growth, smartphone-penetration rate and increased mobile- data penetration.
“With the growing middle class, we see the vehicle market continuing its growth rate and possibly outperforming projections. Having grown up in the Philippines also, I have seen the rapid development of the country, and I expect this to continue going forward,” he said. “In the Philippines while mobile-data usage or penetration is still low, but fast growing and platforms, such as Safezone.ph from Voyager or Smart Communications, should be able to bridge the gap.”
Voyager Innovations Inc., the digital subsidiary of Smart, in February launched the platform called SafeZone, which lets brands and businesses to reach their customers nationwide through their mobile phones. SafeZone has partnered with the biggest names in local and global entertainment, online commerce, travel, transportation and news, including the likes of Philippine Airlines, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Agoda, Skyscanner, Zalora, Carmudi, Lamudi, Spinnr, GameX, Babble Messenger, Eat Bulaga and Pinoy Hoops, among others.
Initially, free access to SafeZone partner apps and sites will be available to Smart subscribers in the country. In addition to all these services, users can also access their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds within SafeZone free of charge.