Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Telecom firm offers free 3G services
TARGETING more than 40 million of the country's total population, telecommunications firm Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprise Inc. (Cure) is giving its 3G services for free in exchange for mobile advertisement.
During Monday's press briefing for the upcoming launch of their newest brand "umobile", Cure chief executive officer Ardie Balderrama said they are targeting the 15 to 35 age bracket or those that belong to the "youth and yuppies" sector as their initial market for the new mobile services. The 15 to 35 age bracket is 45 percent of the current 89 million population.
Balderrama said unlike the traditional mobile providers, umobile will be different because a certain segment of the consumers will be chosen to enjoy the services they will provide to their selected subscribers.
The ad-funded services, which are the first in Asia, according to Balderrama, will be available to postpaid users.
He explained that approved or chosen subscribers will initially receive P100 free load for six months (which is the promotional period) starting June 1 and will get additional 50 centavos for every advertisement they will receive.
"For our subscribers, that will be like earning money or credit by watching commercials on television or viewing print ads in newspapers and magazines except they do it through their mobile phones," he said.
Initially, the services will be available in Metro Manila, but the Cure officer said they have already made arrangements with Smart Communications, their sister company, for the sharing of the facilities for the nationwide coverage beginning next month.
"Even if we have all the money in the world it would be impossible to work out on a roll out (of our facilities) in one day, so we worked out with the facilities sharing with Smart Communications," added Balderrama.
Umobile will run a 3G network and most of its products and services will harness the technology, but subscribers of 2G and 2.5G network can still make use of basic mobile telephony services such as voice calls and sending and receiving SMS and MMS.
An average of 10,000 subscribers will be accepted every month or a total of 100,000 for the end of 2008.
As of end 2007, the penetration rate of mobile phones hits 50 percent with Smart having the highest market share with 56 percent followed by Globe Telecom with 39 percent and Digitel with five percent.
Mobile advertising, on the other hand, is projected to grow by US$19 billion in 2011. As of end December 2007, mobile advertising already reached US$3 billion.
Noli Romualdez, umobile's sales chief, said they are now in the final stages of talking with potential advertisers and five of them are expected to close their deal within the next few days.
At least 10 companies will be their initial client and these firms are engaged in consumer products and fastfood chains, added Romualdez.
SIM holders of umobile can now send messages and voice calls to Smart, Piltel, PLDT and Bayan subscribers.
Balderrama said they are now in talks with Sun Cellular and Globe Telecoms for possible connectivity.
Aside from the SMS and voice calls, Balderrama said their subscribers can also enjoy voice messaging (using their personal computers) and video streaming.
For their partner advertisers, Balderrama said they could provide polling, company profiling, research and even links to call center services.
Umobile ensures advertisers will get a mobile campaign especially designed for the target market through its detailed subscriber database. Instead of a mass text to faceless subscribers, umobile will help develop customized mobile marketing campaigns with information from its customer profiles, said Balderrama.
Cure was acquired by Smart Communications on March 25 from PH Communications Holdings Corporation and Francom Holdings, Inc. for P419.54 million. (MSN/Sunnex)
