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THE
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) Group has
set its sights on expanding its operations with its
planned expansion to parts of Asia and Europe.
PLDT
Global Corp. (PGC), the international sales and
marketing arm of the telecom conglomerate, will forge
MVNO (mobile virtual network operation) deals with
mobile phone firms within the region and one in Europe.
“PLDT
Global has set its course to activate the European MVNO
project and Asian expansions in 2008,” PGC president
Alfredo Panlilio said in an interview
yesterday.
An MVNO
operator provides mobile phone service but does not have
its own licensed frequency allocation of radio spectrum,
nor does it necessarily have all of the infrastructure
required to provide mobile telephone service. They are
roughly equivalent to the “switchless resellers” of the
traditional landline telephone market. These resellers
buy minutes wholesale from the large long distance
companies and retail them to customers.
The
European MVNO project, he added, is aimed at serving the
Filipino migrants and contract worker population, which
represents 10 percent of the 2007 overseas Filipino
workers (OFW) stock estimate. This king of mobile phone
service tailored to their lifestyles.
PGC
currently offers its products and services of affiliate
Smart Communications Inc. in Hong Kong and in Singapore
using the network and operational infrastructure of
local mobile phone firms there.
The
company launched its first MVNO in Hong Kong in August
2004, branded as 1528 Smart, in partnership with Hong
Kong CSL Ltd. Another MVNO service was launched in
Singapore in partnership with Mobile One called Smart
Pinoy.
“Following the remarkable start and growth of business
in Hong Kong and Singapore, PGC is confident that the
European and Asian expansion projects will be a success
and even exceed performance. PGC ensures its
stakeholders that it will sustain its growth and expand
market reach through organic business initiatives,” said
Panlilio.
PGC is
expanding its presence where there is a large
concentration of OFWs which number to eight million and
remit close to $8 billion yearly.
In
December last year, PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan
announced that PGC is targeting Macau, Taiwan and Italy.
“Our next target is Italy. Macau will be next, also in
2008,” he said. “Taiwan will be in 2009 and there will
be another country, also in 2009,” he added.
The US
has the most number of migrant Filipinos with 2.7
million, of which half are living in California. In
Italy, there are about 500,000 OFWs and their families,
In Canada, the number of Filipinos living there have
reached 320,000.
The Hong
Kong and Singapore MVNOs were successful launch pads for
PGC’s operations. Now with a combined loyal customer
base of more than 100,000 or approximately 40-percent
penetration of Hong Kong Singapore OFW population, it is
evident, Panlilio said, that PGC has beaten its 12 local
competitors with close to a 50-percent market share in
just three years.
“PLDT
Global aims to penetrate 15- to 20-percent of the
Filipino expat population before end-2008 by offering
relevant consumer products and services in the
telecommunications and financial services space,” he
added.
Focused
on promoting Smart’s innovative mobile technology and
coupled with personalized care services and strong brand
equity of Smart, PGC is geared to offer a value
proposition that differentiates it from the local mobile
offers to our fellow Filipinos offshore.
The 1528
Smart service, which accounts for 40 percent of PGC’s
revenues, posted $24 million in net profit in 2006. 1528
Smart has subscriptions of over 60,000 in 2007.
An
estimated 87 percent of some 180,000 OFWs living in Hong
Kong, or more than 150,000, own mobile phones, and the
majority of these mobile phone subscribers are on
prepaid subscription.
“Smart
Pinoy” in Singapore currently services more than 40,000
customers. |
