PHL telcos go online as mobile market nears saturation

With mobile penetration approaching saturation in the Philippines, the top two telecom firms in the country have turned to the mobile Internet as their next big cash cow. Telecom research firm Budde Comm noted that by June 2010, mobile phone subscribers in the Philippines breached the 85 million mark, or a high 90-percent penetration. Despite this, Internet penetration remained at a low 30 percent, a fact which telecom firms have recently realized and which they have decided to focus their efforts on. Pushing into mobile Internet Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) and rival Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) separately launched this week their respective bets at penetrating the mobile data market, believed to be the future of mobile technology around the world. Second-ranked Globe announced in a briefing Thursday night the revamped version of their mobile web portal, dubbed m.globe, which now serves to cater users' social networking feeds and email messages, among other relevant information. Users only need to point their mobile web browsers to Globe's mobile portal to access their Twitter timelines, Facebook feeds and GMail messages for free, as well as post status updates and fire off email messages while on the go. While access to the portal is free, Globe clarified that users will be charged for accessing content outside the portal, such as when downloading attachments from an email message or going to the main Twitter site to access a full view of their timelines. Globe said the portal is accessible even through the most basic of mobile browsers, which means the service is device-agnostic. "We believe users shouldn't have to buy a new device to surf the Internet," said Peter Bithos, Globe's head of consumer division. "With m.globe, every phone is a netphone," he added. Betting on Android But aside from the mobile browser component, Globe has released a widget version of their m.globe portal as well, accessible on many Android phones available today. Android is the mobile operating system developed by search giant Google Inc., and is touted as the world's fastest-selling smartphone OS by research firm Gartner, overtaking Apple's iOS in the second half of 2010. But unlike its mobile browser counterpart, access to the same data using m.globe's Android widget is charged the standard browsing rates, or the default scheme of P5 per 15 minutes. Not to be outdone, dominant telecom player Smart said it is going all-out on the Android platform, as it launched on Wednesday its initial offering under the Netphone line, a bevy of Android-powered smartphones originally unveiled during the 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain in February. The first of these phones is the Netphone 701, a 3.5-inch multi-touchscreen device that runs on Android 2.2 Froyo and powered by a 600MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. “The Netphone will allow people without Internet-capable phones to upgrade easily and enjoy the benefits of the Internet in their hands, now," said Orlando B. Vea, Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart. What sets the Netphone apart from other Android phones, however, is the centralized application which Smart has built on top of the platform, called SmartNet. Under SmartNet, users can access their Facebook and Twitter accounts through the Social Stream app and chat with their friends using the Yahoo! Messenger application all for free. Additionally, Smart has also packaged in a BBM-like application called Netphone Messenger, which Netphone users can use to send messages to each other. While access to the applicatons under the SmartNet platform is free, users can subscribe to various data plans that Smart is offering, ranging from P20 to P40 a day inclusive of voice and text credits. Goodbye, SMS? “The Netphone–with SmartNet at its heart–is a key component of our roadmap to staying competitive in an all-Internet Protocol (IP) environment that, if operators don’t watch out, could be ruled by a bevy of Internet players like Google and Facebook," Vea said. Smart said it is also expecting the Netphone to unlock new revenue streams for the telco, at the time when mobile penetration is high and SMS and voice revenues are gradually tapering off. In its first half 2011 financial results, in fact, PLDT highlighted how their revenues were affected by a 2-percent reduction in cellular data/text revenues as well as an 8-percent decline in combined cellular and fixed voice revenues. In contrast, PLDT reported a steep 13-percent hike in DSL revenues, as well as a 5-percent increase in wireless broadband and Internet revenues. Globe suffered quite a similar fate as mobile revenues slowed to 1 percent in the second quarter of the year but broadband revenues ballooned to 42 percent year-on-year during the first half. Perhaps it is indeed a sign of the times. Back in 2009, Budde Comm noted that as much as 1.8 billion text messages were being sent in the Philippines every day, accounting for more than 10 percent of global SMS sent at some point. In 2010, however, the SMS market in the country has started to decline, marked by the exponential adoption of social networking sites such as Facebook, where 9 out of 10 Filipinos already have an account. With these recent developments in the telco space, the Philippines has indeed graduated from being the "texting capital of the world" and has moved in to taking the crown as the "social networking capital of the world."