SUBSCRIBERS to SMART Communications Inc. mobile-phone service  may soon be able to pick their own contact numbers.

According to SysNet Integrators Inc., which invented this new value (VAS) added  service called Vani-Txt, it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the cellular firm.

“Two weeks ago, Smart finally issued a memorandum of understanding to use this unique Private Vani-Txt service as one of their VAS services,” said SysNet president Joel Sapul in a letter to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). “This service will allow mobile subscribers to use any names or words, as their Vani-Txt codes, to call their mobile phones for personal or business purposes, depending on their needs.”

SysNet is now applying with the NTC to be the service provider for its Vani-Txt 9988.

It said it invented Vani-Txt two years ago. A subscriber may simply text in a Vani-Txt code and send it to 9988 and the system automatically search the database for the numeric equivalent, then initiates and connects the call through call-back.

It is an ideal solution for those who prefer to have their contact numbers kept from the public in general.

Another application of this service is for corporate contact codes in which people can call any corporate number without memorizing their mobile or fixed line numbers but recall only their corporate branding as the contact code. Businesses that would like to maximize product recall may also use their brand names as their own ‘call number.’

This speeds up the communications, while increasing customer call hits and interactions to any company and that may result in better business economics, according to SysNet.

In the future, Vani-Text can be adopted as a national contact code service for immediate access to basic government services without memorizing contact numbers for the agencies. If implemented nationwide, this will be the first in the country, Sapul said.

Sapul added that Vani-Txt can be used as a national contact code access the NTC can adopt and set as a national standard.

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SUBSCRIBERS to SMART Communications Inc. mobile-phone service  may soon be able to pick their own contact numbers.

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 Washington Z. Sycip, now 85 years old, only left SGV and Co., which he co-founded in 1946 but did not retire. Since 1997, he has been a director MacroAsia Corp., which belongs to the Lucio Tan group of companies, and chairman of Lufthansa Technik Philippines Inc.