Wireless Federation

www.WirelessFederation.com/news:Red Mobile, the prepaid mobile operator, has relaunched its service across the nation to the 40 million 2G handset users and aims to expand its subscriber base to 1 million by 2009-end.

“Out of 55 million mobile phone users, only 15% to 20% are with 3G handsets. So, by making it available on the 2G network, we are now expanding our service offerings to those that are still using 2G mobile phones,” Danilo J. Mojica, Smart Communications, Inc. wireless consumer division head, reportedly said.

The relaunch is anticipated to raise the average revenue per unit (ARPU) of the operator by 10%, at around P100 per subscriber, officials said.

“Because our subscriber base is low, it is understandable that our ARPU is at that level. But hopefully, it will increase with our affordable service offerings,” Mr. Zaballero explained.

Red Mobile offers calls at P0.50 per minute within the network and the same rate applies to video calling, short messaging, and multimedia messaging services.

“We are the only brand in the market that allows customers to consume their load up to the last drop,” Mr. Zaballero said.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Citibank Philippines’ more than one million clients now need only their mobile phones to check their account information, pay bills and transfer money.

Leading the way in mobile-based banking, Citi, the country’s largest foreign bank, today launched Citi Mobile Banking (CMB). A purely browser-based mobile banking solution, Citi Mobile Banking allows clients to access Citibank’s online banking site, www.citibank.com.ph from their mobile phones.

With CMB, Citi clients can securely manage their banking needs, including checking account balance and making payments, from their mobile handsets, at any time and from any location. There is no need to download any new application to their devices, or register to begin enjoying the service. It is automatically accessible to all current Citibank Online users.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Smart Communications, the mobile arm of Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), is planning to launch a month-long tender offer – commencing 1 July – to buy out minority shareholders of its 92.87%-owned subsidiary Pilipino Telephone Corp (Piltel).

Earlier, Smart said it was looking to mop up 839.38 million Piltel shares at PHP8.50 per share, making the tender worth a total of PHP7.14 billion (USD147.5 million). In 2009, March the board of Smart Communications decided to transform the telecoms company into an investment holding company, whose principal asset is a 20% stake in the nation’s largest power distribution company, Manila Electric Company.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: LG Electronics has introduced the KC550 mid-range camera in the Philippines. The handset features a 5-megapixel camera, and supports EDGE, GSM900, GSM1800, and GSM1900 networks. The handset is also adorned a 5-way navigation pad, a 2.4-inch TFT screen, MP3 player and FM radio, and motion sensor.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Filipino senate has asked the mobile oeprators of the country Globe Telecoms, Smart Communications, and Digitel Mobile (Sun Cellular) to explain the disappearing of talk-time. A senate committee is looking into the policy set by mobile operators according to which the talktime is forfeited if it is not used within a certain time. The senate enquiry is also looking at what regulators are doing to protect the interest of mobile subscribers. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said it was hampered by a court order that has disallowed the implementation of guidelines on the expiration of call credits.
Implementation of Memorandum 13-06-2000 was halted by a court eight years ago. The memorandum reportedly imposes rules on interconnection agreements, billing statements, call rates, and the sale and use of prepaid cards

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: HTC, the Taiwanese mobile handset manufacturer, is in partnership with various leading mobile operators to strengthen its presence in the Philippines, expecting double sales and market share in 2009.

HTC Philippines country manager Mark Dewey Sergio, reportedly said partnerships with Smart Communications, Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc. have been formalized.
“Currently, our smartphone units are available in Smart’s postpaid data plans and we will launch it commercially this month,” Mr. Sergio said.

HTC mobile handsets which aim at the tech savvy youth. describer filipinos as “dynamic consumers” especially of mobile phones, he said he expects a good reception for HTC products that include smartphones, touch phones, PDA phones, and mobile computers.
“We have been in the enterprise segment in the last couple of years and we are now aiming to capture the consumer market,” Mr. Sergio said.

HTC mobile phones were introduced to the Philippine market last year. “We can’t give a particular share of the market that HTC has now, but I can say that we are on track with our target,” Mr. Sergio said.

The company is expecting more than 100% growth in sales and market share this year, he added.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Cherry Mobile, a new mobile device brand, has launched in the Philippines. The company aims the low-end market with features compared to high-end devices at cheaper prices. It offers dual-SIM handsets and currently offers four models of between PHP 2,999 to PHP 5,690. The company is anticipated to sell 5,000 units per month and has sold 10,000 since its soft launch a few weeks earlier. The exclusive distributor for Cherry Mobile devices is Cosmic Technologies.

Globitel, the leading provider of Modern Telecom Solutions, recently provided the Iraqi operator Asiacell with their renowned USSD Gateway and a variety of roaming solutions.

Globitel’s USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) Gateway is a cost-effective and user-friendly tool, enabling network operators to provide mobile subscribers with content-rich, interactive services which are easy to use, including: callback, balance inquiry, pre-paid account refill, stock quotes, sports information, interactive games, and others.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Content Networks (MCN), the leading provider of mobile search management and search revenue solutions, announced the launch of Smart Search in partnership with the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART). Smart Search is an SMS triggered search service that will reach SMART’s 36,900,000 subscribers who can use the 7600 shortcode to text queries for their favorite downloadable music content. Smart Search will be free during an initial promotional period after which each successful search will cost P1.00 per transaction.

The new MCN-powered search service complements MCN’s WAP search solution for the SMART Music Store, which launched in 2008 and offers subscribers real-time access to a growing catalog of thousands of high-value ringtones and full-track music downloads from leading local content providers.

“The excellent performance of our WAP search partnership has encouraged us to offer similar services to our SMS user base,” said Jerome Almirante of SMART. “With 2009 first quarter SMS traffic estimated around 66 billion messages we believe our SMS users will welcome the opportunity to text, find, and buy downloadable content.”

“We are very pleased to work with SMART to launch SMS Triggered Music Search with a wide array of Philippine-based content providers,” said MCN CEO Marc Bookman. “We look forward to continued expansion across other high value digital content categories.”

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bayan Telecom, the Fillipino mobile operator, has inked an Intercarrier Roamer Services agreement with Pacific Telecom to offer international roaming service to its subscribers. With this agreement, Filipino mobile subscribers can communicate if they are in Guam or in the Pacific.