Smart unit revamps mobile brand, tack
By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:50:00 11/22/2008
Filed Under: Telecommunications Services
Smart Communications Inc. subsidiary Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise Inc. (CURE) has replaced its advertising-based business model with a new offering called “red Mobile,” which features P0.50-per-minute calls.
“At just P.050 per call for red mobile-to-red-mobile subscribers, consumers can enjoy the lowest per-minute rate in the country. Also, red mobile allows mobile users to place phone calls down to their very last 50-centavo load and make the most out of what they spend on prepaid credits,” CURE said in a statement Friday.
In May, a month after Smart bought out CURE’s parent companies, the new 3G player launched the first ad-supported platform in Asia under the u-mobile brand.
CURE’s strategy was to get advertisers to sponsor text messages and calls by signing up only 15- to 35-year-olds—the target market of many consumer products. But take-up and interconnection problems progressed slowly. CURE stopped accepting new subscribers starting Sept. 1 as it focused on integrating its systems and facilities with that of Smart.
Having completed its system integration work, CURE decided to start fresh with a new brand which customer care representatives said was an “upgrade” of u-mobile. Existing subscribers of u-mobile, whose numbers are undisclosed, are automatically migrated to red Mobile.
There may already be about 65 million or more mobile subscribers out of the Philippines’ population of 90 million. Smart has 34.2 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-September 2008 while rival Globe Telecom Inc. has 23.7 million subscribers.
And with annual mobile growth tapering off, it will be tough going for any new mobile player.
But CURE said that it could make a dent in the saturated mobile telecommunications market by attracting customers who wanted to maximize their load credits while still enjoying good mobile coverage.
CURE said that it could provide “clear connections and countrywide 3G coverage” to address market demand for better coverage from operators, especially those who have unlimited calling promotions.
|
