Cellular business softening

[silver_corolla]

driving school? mwehehe...

malamang school ID ... hintay natin comment ni Silver_corolla

Just inquire na lang po sa PLDT BC. I'm not familiar with PLDT DSL Plan.

[silver_corolla]

nabibilisan ka na ba sa 128kbps?

What service speed connection ba are you talking about? PLDT DSL or Smart Wi-Fi?

[BlueBimmer]

if ur a dialup user...wifi will be ok for u
if ur a DSL user..forget about wifi, 128kbps utot lng ng DSL yan hehe

value for money, DSL..pero 1 big advantage ng wifi..WIRELESS!

[silver_corolla]

It depends on the Internet Guaranteed Package you subscirbed. If you subscribed under 64 kbps or 128 kbps, wag ka na ngang umasa na bibilis pa dyan connection mo.

[oldblue]

how bout IP telephony? altough meron na sa wired, kelan kaya sa mobile

there is this company, I forgot whatsitsname, they're developing wireless IP telephony by just using your old Nokia's, SE's, Siemens ...

entrepreneurship ala recycling hehehe

[oldblue]

if ur a dialup user...wifi will be ok for u
if ur a DSL user..forget about wifi, 128kbps utot lng ng DSL yan hehe

value for money, DSL..pero 1 big advantage ng wifi..WIRELESS!

WiFi G has max of 54Mbps. WiMax has max of 75mbps.

the most expensive DSL Package available for residentials today is only
2mbps.

Wireless can accomodate broadband anytime ...

[silver_corolla]

[SIZE=5]Subscriber growth in RP mobile phone industry seen tapering[/SIZE]
(INQ7.net, Erwin Lemuel Oliva)

THE PHILIPPINE mobile phone industry has reached a tipping point this year, with subscriber growth slowing down to the point of being almost flat, industry executives said.
Executives from both the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom have said that they expect no significant subscriber growth in the next half of the year, and are now looking at ways to increase usage of mobile phone services.

For the first half of 2005, PLDT said that it was able to add 1.5 million more subscribers, bringing its own total subscriber base to 20.8 million, or about 58-percent market share.

Smart Communications, a PLDT wireless subsidiary, had about 1.2 million subscribers added to its existing 15.8 million subscribers, while Talk N' Text had 352,000 added to its own 5 million.

PLDT noted that the total number of additional subscribers added to Smart and Talk 'N Text was lower during the second quarter of 2005. This was a result of the junking of the subscriber identification module (SIM)-swapping activities in May 2005.

Napoleon Nazareno, PLDT and Smart president and chief executive officer, said the termination of SIM-swapping activities in May is expected to increase the company’s churn rate for the rest of the year as subscribers acquired through this promo would eventually abandon its network.

"As it takes four to six months for churn to manifest itself in the system [network], the downward trend in subscriber additions is expected to be more pronounced in the second half of the year, and could lead to some months of net disconnections," the PLDT executive said.

PLDT however stressed that this development will not affect is underlying revenues.

SIM-swapping was a marketing strategy instituted by Smart and its rivals to attract subscribers to switch to a rival SIM, thereby gaining more subscribers. However, this marketing gimmick backfired and was eventually halted by the local mobile phone companies.

Meanwhile, Globe Telecom said this week that it had less net subscriber additions in the first half of 2005 compared to the same period last year.

The mobile phone company's net additions decreased by 34 percent to 1.1 million for the first half of 2005, against 1.7 million in the same period last year.

Globe noted a high take up of its pre-paid brand and the re-launched Touch Mobile brand. However, it also indicated a high churn rate for its pre-paid brand during the first half of 2005.

"A high churn rate for our Globe Handyphone Prepaid Plus subscribers, especially during the first quarter of 2005, offset gains made in gross acquisitions," Globe said in its disclosure to the Securities Exchange Commission.

Globe offers wireless services through three brands, Globe Handyphone (postpaid), Globe Handyphone Prepaid Plus (pre-paid), and Touch Mobile, which is positioned for blue-collar workers.

Globe has a total of 13.6 million gross subscribers as of June 2005 against 10.5 million in the same period in 2004.

The total postpaid subscriber base of Globe was however lower by one percent. As of June 2005, there were a total 644,430 subscribers against 654,161 subscribers for the same period in 2004.

The prepaid subscribers of Globe grew by 31 percent to 12.9 million in the first half of 2005 against 9.8 million during the same period last year.

"The results that we had is a due to the pernicious effect of SIM-swapping because it creates an illusion of an increase in subscriber but you don't really get substantial revenue out of it," Gerardo Ablaza Jr., Globe Telecom president and chief executive officer, said.

PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan for his part said that PLDT expects a downward trend for subscriber growth in the next half of the year as the local wireless industry reaches saturation point.

Pangilinan said PLDT intends to veer away from focusing on acquiring new subscribers to increasing usage of its service.

He said PLDT would be increasing entertainment and info-on-demand content and services, and other value-added services to boost PLDT's wireless services.

Pangilinan hinted that Smart's wireless fidelity (wi-fi) offering, for one, has attracted users around the country, with about 2,800 wi-fi installations recorded as of June 2005.

"We're ramping up wi-fi installations this year because it can be a very good business for us," Pangilinan stressed.

Globe saw its first half net profit slide to 38 percent to 4.2 billion pesos this year from 6.8 billion a year earlier, due to a sharp rise in income tax payment and expenses.

PLDT on the other end said its core earnings hit 8 billion pesos in the second quarter this year despite intense price war with rivals that prompted the company to raise its core net profit target for the whole year from 27 billion to 29 billion pesos.

In a press briefing this week, PLDT executives said that it was its major rival Globe Telecom that suffered from the pricing war.

[Juan Tamad]

Globe Telecom eyes ABS-CBN
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
The Philippine Star 08/08/2005


Globe Telecom has reportedly expressed interest in acquiring a stake in ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. in a bid to support its convergence strategy.

This makes Globe the second telecommunications company to signify an interest in ABS-CBN. The STAR earlier reported that the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications have made an offer to purchase a stake in the broadcasting network.

An ABS-CBN official said there has been no formal offer from Globe or the Ayala Group but disclosed that "feelers" have been sent.

According to a company official, ABS-CBN is not looking for nor does it need new investors at the moment. "But of course, we would listen to any group that wants to make an offer," the official said.

"The reason why telcos are looking for partners in the broadcast industry is because of the limited growth of their cellular business. They need value added services where broadcast content providers play a major role. ABS-CBN is already established in the international market and one value added service it can provide is in the area of remittance. Thus, telcos prefer broadcast organization with foreign presence," the official added.

In another development, PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan told The STAR that he will not make a bid for Radio Philippines Network (RPN 9), which the government has lined up for disposition this year. Pangilinan was identified as one of the groups that have expressed interest in the government-owned station.

According to sources, Globe has already started due diligence investigation on ABS-CBN. But Globe officials said the company is not interested in ABS-CBN, and even if it is, it cannot make the acquisition because the Constitution requires that entities in mass media be wholly Filipino-owned.

But industry experts said that even if Globe is partly owned by Singapore Telecom, it is still a Filipino company being at least 60 percent Filipino-owned. Therefore, there is no prohibition against Globe investing in ABS-CBN. The same rule will apply to PLDT, which is partly owned by Japan’s NTT.

The same sources added that it is also possible that the Ayala group, one of the controlling interests in Globe, will make the pitch for ABS-CBN using a different entity other than Globe.

PLDT earlier made an offer to acquire a stake in ABS-CBN, following its failed bid to get inside GMA Network which had decided recently to push through with a planned initial public offering (IPO) early next year to raise the additional funds it need for expansion.

The IPO was supposed to be scheduled this year but was deferred reportedly due to concerns raised by some of the majority owners of GMA 7, particularly the group of GMA chairman and president Felipe Gozon, that there is no assurance that the likes of Manny Pangilinan (PLDT chairman) will not use the IPO to gain control of the station.

Gozon owns 30 percent of GMA 7 while the Duavits owns 35 percent. The remaining 35 percent is owned by the Jimenez family which according to reports is being wooed by Pangilinan to sell its stake to PLDT. If Pangilinan is able to dominate the IPO and at the same time convince the Jimenez family to join him, then the PLDT group may be able to gain control of the network.

Gozon reportedly changed his mind and decided to proceed with the IPO next year after being assured that the shares to be sold during the IPO will be widely dispersed so that no single entity will be able to control it.

With GMA 7 out of the picture, Pangilinan has reportedly set his sights on ABS-CBN.

There have been reports that Pangilinan will make a bid for RPN 9 or IBC 13 when these are placed on the auction block by government, but when asked by The STAR about this, he said that he will not make a bid for these stations.

ABS-CBN earlier reported a P141 million loss during the first quarter of 2005, its first loss in several years. The first quarter performance was a sharp reversal form a net profit of P124 million in the same period last year.

But ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III has expressed confidence that they can turn around the situation for the company.

[boybi]

What service speed connection ba are you talking about? PLDT DSL or Smart Wi-Fi?

smart wifi. gusto ko na nga sanang lumipat ng smart wifi dahil sa disconnection problems ko sa pldt dsl, pero 128kbps lang ang smart, baka manibago ako dahil 768kbps ako sa pldt.

[BlueBimmer]

but Smart advertises the wifi with 'UP TO' 128kbps..so i assume thats the optimal speed..baka not everybody can get the full 128kbps.