Touch Moblile Unlimited call and text?....

[jun]

Globe blinks, offers unlimited phone plan
Feb. 25, 2005

Clarissa S. Batino
Inquirer News Service


RUNNING the risk of losing vital market share, Globe Telecom Inc. has been left with no choice but to offer its own unlimited within-network call and text promo for subscribers of its Touch Mobile brand, an Inquirer source said.

Starting March, Touch Mobile will offer a buffet voice and text-messaging rate of P300 for 30 days, and unlimited text for as low as P50 for five days, the source said.



The offer will be good for 30 days beginning March 1, and will be on top of existing Touch Mobile plans, the source said.

The unlimited plan will not be available to Globe subscribers, the source said. But Touch Mobile, which is powered by Globe, may ride on Globe's network of about 4,000 cellular stations that can cover about 90 percent of the population.

Globe officials on Thursday were still unsure whether they could launch the campaign by Tuesday.

Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc.'s "Sun Cellular" service set off a price war when it offered its 24/7 plan, featuring an unlimited call and text-messaging service for P250 a month, or P100 for 10 days, on top of existing plans.

Sun Cellular has only about 1,300 sites but plans to expand its network to about 2,000 this year.

Globe's Innove Communications Inc., which operates the Touch Mobile brand, has notified the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of its promo.

Rate cuts normally do not need the commission's approval, but an NTC official said that with the controversy being generated by the telecom price war, the commission's approval might have to be obtained before Touch Mobile can launch its promo.

At end-2004, Touch Mobile counted 1.698 million subscribers, up slightly from 1.5 million at end-2003.

Globe and Touch Mobile together ended 2004 with a total of 12.5 million subscribers, of whom 11.88 million were prepaid and 630,495 were postpaid.

Touch Mobile competes in the same mass market as the "Talk 'N Text" brand of Pilipino Telephone Corp., a unit of Smart Communication Corp.

Of Smart's more than 19 million subscribers last year, more than four million used the Talk 'N Text brand.

An industry watcher said Globe's move might do it more harm than good. He said Globe might gain flighty prepaid subscribers at the expense of postpaid customers who are expected to suffer from the traffic that the buffet pricing would generate.

"The traffic that Touch Mobile will generate will affect even Globe subscribers who are not going to benefit from the promo," he said. "I think this is kamikaze for Globe."

In the middle of January, Touch Mobile slashed its call rates to P1 per minute, starting at the third minute of call, but only within network.

A sluggish performance of Touch Mobile prompted Globe to reassess its position in the market last year and re-launch the brand.

Touch Mobile is the brand that Globe has positioned to pierce the lower segment of the wireless market. But the brand, so far, has not delivered substantial results.

Globe president Gerardo Ablaza earlier said the company wanted to strengthen the Touch Mobile brand so it could play a bigger role in the company's bid to penetrate the mass market more effectively.

Ablaza recently said Sun Cellular could be affecting Globe's potential to grow the market for second phones.

Digitel president Lance Gokongwei said Sun Cellular was being positioned to tap the market for second phones.

The strategy, he said, is to encourage customers to use Sun Cellular as a second phone while the company taps new subscribers among the young and low-end market.

With its 24/7 plan, Digitel will also encourage its use as a fixed-line alternative, Gokongwei said. With INQ7.net

[jedi]

and now .....Touch mobile

whos next ?

[IceColdBeer]

Reklamo ng reklamo gagaya din pala hehehe. Can't beat 'em join 'em!

[Babnoy]

Malamang sumunod din ang baduy na Talk 'n Text. Pero sa tingin ko hindi magki-click yang pakulo ng TM at TNT. Iba pa rin kasi ang orig.

[5Speed]

expect smart to make a smart move.....

otherwise eh dalawa ng telco ang aawayin nila, sun and globe....herherherher

magalit na ang magagalit pero ang winner talaga dyan eh mga consumer.... that is one good thing about commercial competition, the companies can make a lot of fuzz on making a better deal compared to his rival but still the consumers are the ones benefitting from this.....

[Mojo]

buti naman pinakita ng sun na tubong lugaw ang Globe at Smart, sabi nila lagi mahal investment sa infrastructure kaya mahal singil.

Eh bat nagawa ng Sun?

[RedHorse]

sang buwan lang yan... promo lang kasi

[BlueBimmer]

hindi pala prepaid? since globe subs cannot avail it

[HubLock]

Who's the next competitor kaya? Pero I Think ang su2nod jan sa promo na yan yung AMP.. mga under lang sa big companies diba?

[ILuvDetailing]

This is indeed good for us consumers... sana sumali na Smart.