Smart gains controlling stake in BOW (Philippines)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The mobile phone unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Smart Communications, has gained a controlling stake in Blue Ocean Wireless (BOW).

PLDT reportedly said that Smart will invest an additional $6.26 million in BOW, increasing its equity ownership to 51% from 28.3%.
BOW also confirmed that Smart and 2 other companies have committed to invest an additional $7.5 million in the company to speed up the launch of FleetBroadband (FBB), its latest service offering.
“FleetBroadband is the first maritime communications service to provide cost-effective global broadband data and voice simultaneously through a compact antenna. FBB provides unprecedented connectivity between vessels and the shore, regardless of your global position or conditions at sea,” BOW said.
Japanese firm NTT DoComo Inc. and Irish communications firm Altobridge Limited are the two other investors infusing fresh capital in BOW

The investments will help enhance its service offering within the merchant maritime sector, BOW said.