And the Telecom War is on...

[cyberdoc95]

[SIZE=4]Rivals feel Sun’s heat[/SIZE]

By Jesse E.L. Bacon II
Man at the Market
Wednesday, 02 16, 2005

Sun Cellular's “predatory pricing” scheme, as what its competitors has described it, really stirred the hornet's nest in the country's mobile telephone service industry threatening not just the other players but quality service and the very existence of the whole sector.

The 24/7 pricing scheme of the Gokongwei Group's Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc., Sun Cellular's mother company, is now the subject of a formal complaint lodged by Globe Telecom and Smart Communications before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for being predatory and unfair to competition.

The scheme enables Sun subscribers to have an unlimited Sun-to-Sun calls and text messaging for 24 hours every day of the week for the measly flat rate cost of P250 a month only. At first glance, of course, the scheme appears revolutionary and customer friendly thus endearing to its subscribers and even to the subscribers of competition. But this is the whole gamut of the complaint: Is this scheme for good or just a costly ploy?

My friends who were lured by this pricing scheme of Sun Cellular are now complaining about the company's service. And who will not be lured by this scheme considering the country's being the mobile phone and text messaging capital of the world? They say they could hardly make calls in one attempt only, meaning, they have to repeat the procedure before they could get through their called numbers. Besides, they also complained that Sun Cellular's covered area is very limited for they don't have as much cell sites compared to the more established mobile phone providers like Smart and Globe.

I myself find it very hard to contact my Sun Cellular subscriber-friends either through calls or through short messaging service or what we fondly call as text messaging. And in those few instances that I was able to get through their Sun Cellular phone numbers, the connection, more often than not, is not clear and off and on especially if the called party is mobile or traveling or vice versa.

It is also the complaint of my Sun Cellular subscriber-friends that in those instances that they were successful in making calls to their co-Sun Cellular subscribers their calls are automatically switched-off after 15 minutes. This switching off of their calls, they claim, has become the rule rather than the exception.

I gathered that actual tests have shown that Sun Cellular's call setup success rate is only 38 percent, meaning, for every 100 calls made only 38 calls on the first attempt are successful. This call setup success rate on the first attempt is said to be way below the NTC imposed standard rate of 93 percent.

Globe and Smart in their complaint alleged that Sun Cellular's pricing scheme is pure and simple predatory aimed at no other purpose but gobble up their respective subscriber base. The two established telecommunications firms further claimed that logic will tell this scheme will not work in the long run because it is a losing proposition. The best this scheme can achieve, industry sources say, is bring the whole mobile phone sector down to its knees and destroy the quality of the service it presently renders its clientele.

Industry insiders told me that with its pricing scheme, Sun Cellular subscribers can't expect a better service standard for there is no way the firm can improve its facilities with its revenues. For every call made or text message sent the mobile firm is spending a certain amount of money to enable it to service its subscriber. This situation is no different to a public utility vehicle (PUV) where it has to spend a certain amount of money for gas, motor oil and other maintenance costs including the driver's earnings to be able to safely and comfortably ferry its passenger to their destinations.

If the PUV lowers its fare just so it can attract more passengers, then it has to operate at a loss. Soon its service standard will deteriorate and eventually it will fold up. Now, what if all the PUV's will follow suit by lowering their fares to be able to compete? In the end, will the riding public not suffer with the industry going bankrupt also? What Sun Cellular is doing is analogous to the above situation. In this regard, it is the NTC's duty to avert this situation from happening in the wireless phone industry to protect the interest of mobile phone users.

(jelbacon*yahoo.com for your reactions)

Very simple solution to his friend's problem and answers this question as well: "WHY STAY on SUN CELLULAR IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED?". Obviously, nobody is stopping anyone if you leave the service.

His analogy would have been better if he compared it between a TAXI and a Jeepney. Question: Why do majority of the riding public jump to jeepneys, if they can get a TAXI for a very good, smooth, and convenient ride? TAXI is obviously more expensive than getting the jeepney na pila-pila kung sumakay, di ba? So, kung ayaw mo ng pumila or nagmamadali ka sa appointment or gusto mo convenient at di mausok, then mag-TAXI ka na lang maski mahal ito, di ba? Nobody is stopping you to take the TAXI coz you are the one deciding for that, as much as nobody is stopping these SUN CELLULAR unsatisfied users to move to SMART or GLOBE. Yun nga lang, they have to pay more to this greedy GIANT TELECOMS!

SO, CALLING TO ALL DISSATISFIED SUN CELLULAR CUSTOMERS!! YOU ARE FREE TO MOVE BACK TO GLOBE AND SMART! BE READY TO PAY MORE THOUGH!!!

P.S.
Buti nga lumipat yung ibang SUN members para mabawasan ang traffic at para mag-increase yung success rate ng calls kasi ito naman ang reklamo kuno ng GLOBE at SMART na diumano ang SUN CELLULAR has poor success rate ng calls at para tumigil na rin sila sa kaka-bully nitong bagong company!Poor thing!

Bakit nga naman pinoproblema ng SMART and GLOBE ang poor success call rates na problema naman yan ng SUN?

[ozcity]

im enjoying this thread GO SUN!!

[FrankDrebin]

cyberdoc95 is right! Kung saan makakatipid at makakamura ang tao eh doon siya pupunta. Bakit nga ba marami ang pumupunta sa mainit at mabahong Divisoria? Bakit mabenta ang mga AUVs? Bakit marami ang gumagamit ng diesel? Bakit may tingi-tingi ang bentahan ng yosi?

[pajerokid]

Me too! hehehe.

[BlueBimmer]

kahit ilang articles pa lumabas 2ngkol dyan, afaic as text pa lang lampas na lampas sa P250 per month ako, calls e average 1 hour/nyt, pag tinamad e txt lng. kng nakapostpaid ako and SUN sends me my bill, it would definitely be more than 2k.

if those people are not satisfied with SUN then by all means pls go back to globe/smart so as to make us SUN ctu subscribers experience improved bandwidth hehe :callme: :cheers:

[ILuvDetailing]

Same analogy as the NLEX issue, if you want better success rate in your calls use Globe or Smart, pag gusto maka tipid eh di SUN, mga bwisit na writer na yan siguro binabayaran ng Globe/Smart. Mabuhay and SUN!!! :cheers: hehehe... mga bwakaw talaga yung Globe/Smart, 5% lang naman yung market share ng SUN umiiyak na sila, takot na mawalan ng kita

[IceColdBeer]

Ganun talaga yan kanya kanyang bayaran sa media para maganda isulat sa kanila, kaya tuwang tuwa mga writers kapag ganito eh hehe.
Anyway, tama sila kung saan ka masaya dun ka.

[Mojo]

Parang dati din yun, nun bago pa ata yung smart/globe at pumutok ang pag ka adik ng tao sa text, palagi din barado/ wala signal yung network nila, di naman sila sinita ng NTC, dahil siguro alam nila na continued naman ang upgrade ng system nila.


Sa sun ganun din ata, according sa kanila nagtatayo sila at nag aactivate ng bagong sites para makahabol sa demand. Sa NTC siguro ok lang yan kasi nga ganun talaga, demand muna bago capacity kasi ang mahal ng cell sites at infrastructure, as long may assurance na mag uupgrade ng capacity.

bigyan natin ang sun ng pagkakataon, Buti kumampi ang NTC sa Sun,or else Globe/Smart monopoly parin, at only way the challenge their hold is thru conventional marketing, Impossible naman ata yan. Sun only think it can get a sizeable market thru agressive marketing. So far tama sila.

[Skywalker]

I agree to most of you Guys. Dapat talaga ang boses ng consumers ang dapat pakinggan. Kung gusto talaga ng Globe at Smart na makipag compete, eh di tapatan nila at hindi yung nagsusumbong sila sa mga padrino nila.

Although I'm a Globe user (sagot ng company), my sympathy is with SUN and it's subscribers.

[silhouette]

hehehe...
the SUN will come out tomorrow...so you gotta Hung until tomorrow...'til there's SUN or NONE...

at the end, the people will decide it's faith.

[Skywalker]

Here comes the SUN little Darling
Here comes the SUN
And I say, IT'S ALRIGHT. :hippie: :rock:

[ILuvDetailing]

Kaya nga SUN eh pag may SUN mas madaling tumawag pag wala ng SUN eh pahirapan na bwehehehe

[Stuckinstock]

I have a SUN but I still keep my old GLOBE line.

my globe bill is down by more than P1k now (from almost P3k to around P1.5k now)

kayo, magkano na natipid niyo ever since switching (or using) a SUN line?

(I think eto ang hinahabol ng GLOBE at SMART eh... kita na nga nila yun, natipid pa! hehehe)

[ozcity]

mga sakim..

[OTEP]

It's my money. Wala nang pakialam ang Globe at Smart as to how I want to spend it.

[falken]

I'm a Globe subscriber, but I'm glad that Sun's subscriber base is increasing. For us consumers, it's the more the merrier, More competition ensures better services and better prices.

[Stuckinstock]

btw, got a txt from SUN this morning. I think they're lowering their rates for calls to non-SUN numbers to P6.25 (though di ko pa alam kung may peak and off peak schedule din to)

[mazdamazda]

btw, got a txt from SUN this morning. I think they're lowering their rates for calls to non-SUN numbers to P6.25 (though di ko pa alam kung may peak and off peak schedule din to)

flat rate po yan.

[kimpOy]

malaki ang tinipid ko using sun...
dati 600/month ako prepaid
ngayon 250 CTU plus 150 normal load (minsan di pa ako nag lo-load nito)

400 pesos na lang

savings of 200 a month

[BlueBimmer]

dagdag pang-gatas din yan hehehe