TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has entered into a multiyear collaboration with The Walt Disney Co. Southeast Asia, allowing the Filipino firm to offer more content to its 75 million subscribers.
This collaboration is the first direct partnership for Disney Interactive with a telco company in the Philippines. The partnership will allow subscribers of PLDT and its subsidiaries access to the entire breadth of the Disney Interactive portfolio, which includes popular digital titles under the Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucas Film brands such as Frozen, Big Hero 6, The Avengers, and Star Wars, among others.
“With this partnership, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, users will now have access to an unprecedented amount of digital-entertainment content from Disney, including mobile and online games, visual e-books, value-added content services, and other co-branded mobile and home entertainment products for the combined 75 million mobile and broadband subscribers nationwide of PLDT and Smart,” PLDT President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno said.
This latest venture is part of the company’s “Internet for All” initiative, which promises to bring not only affordable access to the Internet, but the most-complete suite of apps and content services for all their needs as well, Smart Communications Inc. Executive Vice President Charles A. Lim said.
“Disney’s collection of entertaining and engaging characters for the young and young-at-heart have captured the hearts and minds of Filipinos over the years, and Smart is more than proud to be able to bring the Disney magic to fans through their mobile devices,” he added.
“As Filipinos continue to embrace digital technology, it is pertinent that we provide fans content on these various multimedia platforms so they can enjoy the Disney experience at their leisure and convenience,” said James Gray, general manager of Disney Interactive, The Walt Disney Co. Southeast Asia. “Working closely with the right locally popular brands like Smart and PLDT is important as they also seek to bring the best digital and multimedia experiences to their users.”
For the initial offering, Smart subscribers will be able to get full and attractively priced access to Disney mobile game titles such as “Marvel Avengers Alliance,” “Frozen,” “Free Fall,” “Big Hero 6 Bot Fight,” and other offerings such as e-books and online games.
Smart subscribers will be able to easily download the mobile games from the GameX portal and play them on their mobile devices. Users can purchase the games using their prepaid credits or charge it on top of their postpaid bills.
Smart is also planning to release Disney-branded content packages for prepaid, postpaid and broadband plans, enriching the overall experience of subscribers with a full suite of games, apps and e-books.
The same complete suite of digital content from Disney will also be available to PLDT Home subscribers nationwide.
The two brands will also help promote Club Penguin, Disney’s innovative online multiplayer virtual world designed especially for kids to interact with other children in the Philippines and around the world. Through various in-app games, chat and interactive activities, Club Penguin fosters a digital experience that is fun, engaging and safe for use by kids of any age.
“By offering services and pursuing innovations that are both relevant and delightful to them, delivered by a robust and resilient network that is available all over the country—we are enabling Filipinos to live more and have the best Internet experience possible today,” Lim said.
Lorenz S. Marasigan