“Filipinos here and abroad use Smart because we have the widest and the best coverage, as well as the largest subscriber base that means access to more people at affordable rates. This, coupled with our worldwide international presence, makes Smart the Filipinos’ biggest mobile network to the world,” said Danilo J. Mojica, head of Smart’s Wireless Consumer Division.
Smart enjoys the largest share of the Philippine wireless market at about 58 percent with a network coverage that spans 99 percent of the country’s population, the company said in a press statement.
Its products and services are available in over 200 countries abroad in partnership with over 400 international network partners.
Mobile
Through PLDT Global, Smart also serves the mobile communication needs of Filipinos in Singapore and Hong Kong via 1528 Smart.
“Smart is anywhere that it’s needed,” said Jane Basas, head of Smart’s International Services.
According to Basas, Smart is the brand of choice in a number of the biggest overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) country-destinations.
“In the Middle East for example, especially in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, our records show that most Filipino workers there use Smart SIMs to connect with their relatives in the Philippines,” she explained.
Figures
Commission on Filipino Overseas figures peg the total number of OFWs deployed in 193 countries abroad in 2006 at 3,802,345.
There are now more than 10.1 million Filipinos living overseas.
To better serve its international market, SMART launched SMART Pinoy late last year, promoting an array of services that seek to keep the Filipino connected while abroad for employment, leisure or business.
Value-added
Services include International Direct Dialing, international short messaging services and multi-media messaging service, value-added services like international voice text and voice text to email, airtime reloading via Smart Load and remittance services like Smart Padala.
Last February, Smart also announced that it would soon launch pilot projects in the Middle East and Europe to offer low-cost remittance services using its mobile-phone based financial services platform called the Smart Services Hub.
The platform enables migrant workers, using the services of Smart’s telco and banking partners abroad, to send remittances back to the Philippines via SIM-based services anytime, anywhere at the speed of a text message. (PR)
