WIRELESS services provider Smart Communications Inc. said it has enhanced its suite of mobile Internet offers, bringing the “best of the Internet” within reach of every Filipino.
“We have forged partnerships with the world’s biggest brands and digital companies in order to bring world-class services to Filipinos. We have created value-packed bundles that cater to our subscribers’ unique lifestyle needs, and made sure that these are all backed up by the largest and most advanced network in the country today. These are the initiatives at the core of our ‘Internet for All’ message,” Smart Communications Inc. EVP Charles A. Lim said.
Smart, he added, is taking the lead in making a full suite of relevant content available to more Filipinos, especially those who have no credit card. Being a pioneer in innovations for digital-goods payments, the telco leader enables all Smart subscribers to enjoy great content such as music (SPINNR, Deezer), videos (ViewStream, Blink), books and magazines (Buqo), and games (GameX), without the need for a credit card, and conveniently using only their prepaid load or charging it to their postpaid accounts.
The telco leader has also exclusively partnered with some of the world’s biggest entertainment companies, and is set to bring a wealth of new digital-content offerings to users in the Philippines.
“By making all of these great content available right on our subscribers’ device, the one that they have in their pockets all day, wherever they are, we are giving them more and more reasons to truly enjoy and have fun with mobile Internet,” Lim added.
To keep mobile Internet more accessible to more subscribers than ever before, Smart also continues to innovate and find solutions to more efficiently deliver the services that people want.
Smart Prepaid recently launched an offer called Super Messaging 10, which bundles unlimited text with unlimited access to popular online chat apps for one whole day for only P10.
Smart Bro, meanwhile, recently introduced an ultra-fast and hassle-free way for users to enjoy their favorite online activities with the all-new Turbo Plans. Starting at just P799 a month, the innovative new plans let users choose between worry-free All-Month Surfing of light and casual Internet activities, such as posting on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or a pure volume experience that lets them do everything they want online, including downloading and streaming.
A pioneering mobile Internet platform developed by Smart subsidiary Chikka also allows Smart to offer Internet “sachets” sustainably and without sacrificing consumer experience, enabling subscribers to pay only for the Internet services that they need, on an “always on” basis.
This platform powers a new offer, allowing Smart subscribers to access YouTube, the world’s biggest video site for just P5 for a satisfying 30-minute viewing, valid for 24 hours.
Smart, likewise, has a groundbreaking initiative with the Wikimedia Foundation dubbed Wikipedia Zero, which provides Smart subscribers free access to the Wikipedia sites and mobile apps until February 3.
“These are innovations that make mobile Internet accessible even to those using feature phones, so they know they can look forward to an even better experience once they eventually move up to using smartphones,” Lim added.
In the Smart network, over a fourth of Smart and Sun Cellular’s combined over 69 million subscribers are already using smartphones, helping drive a robust 112-percent increase in mobile-data traffic within the network, equivalent to 27,000 terabytes worth of data exchanged from January to September 2014, compared with just 13,000 terabytes of data for the same period of the previous year.
“We can only expect these volumes to increase exponentially in the months ahead. The positive response to the Smart Free Internet promo—a real game-changer in the industry in that it introduced mobile Internet to more people than ever before—gives us a very strong indication of Filipinos’ propensity for mobile-data use,” Lim added.
Through the Smart Free Internet promo, all Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular subscribers can use their data-enabled cell phones to access the Internet without data charges for up to 30MB daily. It is available until February 5, and may be used across all network platforms—from 2G to 3G to 4G speeds in the country.
Smart continues to have the largest and most advanced network in the country today, with a total of 24,938 cellular/broadband base stations, including 9,946 active 4G/HSPA+/Long-Term Evolution base stations, supported by more than 90,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cables around the country.