Philippines: Low-cost services - Cellphone Networks

The Philippines’ top mobile carriers announced separate plans to lower costs, as part of efforts to lure in more customers.

In a recent statement, top mobile player Smart Communications has unveiled a scheme, called "All Calls" which will allow penny-saving subscribers to get minutes of talk time, and a minimal number of free texts or SMS for a much lower cost.

With "All Calls 20", 10 minutes worth of airtime costs only 20 pesos, equivalent to just 2 pesos for every minute, Smart said.

The package, valid for 1 day, also comes with 5 free SMS to any Smart and Talk ‘N Text number.

The company said for even better value for money, "All Calls 100"| is also available. For just 100 pesos, a Smart subscriber may avail of 60 minutes worth of airtime which could be used to call any Smart or Talk ‘N Text number.

All Calls 100 is valid for five days and comes with 30 free SMS to any Smart and Talk ‘N Text number.

Talk ‘N Text is Smart’s sister company.

"We aim to progressively lower the costs of our cellular and data services to make it more accessible to more people, and we shall introduce more of these enhanced service packages in order to provide better value to all," according to Orlando B. Vea, Smart’s chief wireless advisor.

Smart rival and top two player Globe Communications meanwhile unveiled its own low-cost service scheme, particularly for SMS.

Globe in a statement earlier said under the proposed package, Globe customers will pay just 20 pesos for 40 text messages in a day.

The company said it has submitted the services scheme for approval in a paper sent to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the country’s telecom regulator.

Globe however did not announce a low-cost version of the scheme for its voice offerings.

Smart and Globe are currently under pressure to lower interconnection costs, which in turn, may mean lower services costs for customers.

There are also proposals from lawmakers urging the two firms to totally scrap SMS fees.

The two companies however have opposed the proposal.

Two Philippine congressmen last month pushed forward two proposals, one urging local carriers to lower their charges and the other, a more radical scheme of making SMS free.

Congressman Roilo Golez earlier proposed a 60-centavo charge for SMS sent to and from rival networks, and 50 centavos for SMS within the same network, while Congressman Al Francis Bichara has filed a bill seeking to make SMS free for prepaid users.

Bichara’s proposal also include the condition that a subscriber can use the free service as long they have existing credits on their prepaid phone cards.

But phone companies said the proposal to make SMS free will significantly affect the quality of service and could alter an existing ‘ecosystem’ of thousands of retailers peddling prepaid text in small denominations.

SMS charges vary, but in most cases, carriers charge as much as double the rates for SMS within their own networks.

Sun Cellular, the smallest among the top carriers, has adopted a free SMS scheme, but has faced scrutiny because of rivals’ complaints of clogged networks and poor service.

Philippine mobile carriers are continuously generating a big chunk of their revenues from non-voice services, such as SMS, as the domestic market continues to generate unprecented volume of SMS sent everyday surpassing almost all countries.