Sun Cellular Revenues Climb 17%

Mobile phone operator Sun Cellular raised its net service revenues by a robust 17% the first half of 2012, earning Php 10.2 billion versus Php 8.7 billion for the same period last year, the highest growth rate for any local telco this year.

Sun Cellular President and Chief Executive Officer Orlando Vea attributed the company’s strong first half results to further increasing sales of postpaid subscriptions and positive consumer take up on their new prepaid load variants, increase demand in broadband products and the marked improvement of Sun’s network coverage powered by its synergy with  parent company, PLDT.

Revenue growth for the company’s Postpaid, Prepaid, and Broadband segments all posted double-digit growth rates which combined led to Sun Cellular’s continuing to blaze the path for the local telecom industry.

 “We have built on our growth momentum in the first quarter of the year.  We are now reaping the rewards of the synergies between companies in the PLDT wireless group, as it adds more value to our existing services such as postpaid offerings and prepaid load variants, among others,” Vea said.

Vea added that the network improvements will continue and they will lend more focus this time to enhancing network quality. Since the start of the year, Sun Cellular has enhanced its coverage, with the highest marked improvement in Mindanao and Northern Luzon. Vea says, Sun will continue deploying high-gain antennae as well as upgraded network elements to meet the growing demands for its postpaid and prepaid products and services.

Elaborating on Sun Cellular’s first half performance, Chief Operating Officer Charles Lim pointed to the increase in demand for affordable smartphones that come with best-value plans.

“Sun Cellular is committed to providing powerful yet affordable Android-based smartphones to its customers.

 With the right Sun Postpaid Plan, consumers will now be able to expand their horizons in mobility and go beyond simply calling and texting.” Lim explained.

 In Prepaid,  Sun Cellular introduced new load variants in its Text Unlimited and Combo Loads that has seen good acceptance by the market.

“Sun continues to be a practical choice for Prepaid customers because of its improving network and great value products, hence they are starting to use their lines more often. As a result, people are starting to load in higher denominations.” Lim explained. “Of course our Call and Text Unlimited load variants are still there and are now complemented with more added features, making it the best-value unlimited variant in the market. As you know we continue to strive in providing best value services that cater to all market segments, including  small and medium businesses,” he added.

Sun’s Wireless Broadband base also grew significantly during the period. “ We are expecting these numbers to rise steadily as we expand the reach of our 3G network nationwide” Lim said.

He added that Sun Broadband started offering Group plans, Multi-SIM plans, and SIM-only plans to cater to subscribers who want to use Sun Cellular’s broadband service in their various gadgets, in anticipation of the continuing growing demand for broadband access.

“We would like to make sure that our existing and potential subscribers are able to take advantage of the synergies available within the PLDT group, and we are glad that these are starting to pay off,” Lim concluded.

Globe asserts broadband leadership

LEADING telecommunications company Globe Telecom continues to assert its leadership in the Philippine broadband industry with sustained double-digit revenue expansion driven by rising internet usage stemming from the popularity of social networking sites and the growing affordability of access devices such as tablets, PCs, and laptops.

Broadband revenues were up 13 percent year-on-year to P4.1 billion with the continued strong demand for Tattoo-On-The-Go offerings that comprise the bulk of the company's quarterly acquisitions. This led to the overall growth in Globe broadband subscriber base to nearly 1.6 million by June 30, higher by 22 percent from almost 1.3 million subscribers in the same period last year.

From 2007 to 2011, Globe broadband service has grown by an average of 99 percent per year in number of subscribers, and 84% per year in service revenues.

At present, Globe offers Tattoo@Home and Tattoo On-The-Go services across various technologies and connectivity speeds for its residential and business customers.

Tattoo@Home consists of wired or DSL broadband packages bundled with voice, or broadband data-only services which are available at download speeds ranging from 1 mbps up to 15 mbps.

In selected areas where DSL is not yet available, Globe offers Tattoo WiMAX, a fixed wireless broadband service using its WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) network.

Meanwhile, for consumers who require a fully mobile, internet-on-the-go broadband connection, Tattoo On-the-Go allows subscribers to access the internet using 4G, 3G, or Wi-Fi at various hotspots nationwide using a plug-and-play USB modem.

In addition, consumers in selected urban areas who want blazing speed connection have the option to subscribe to Tattoo Torque broadband plans using leading edge GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) technology with speeds of up to 100 mbps. This is the same technology that Globe provided in the recently concluded ADB's 45th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors held in Manila last May.

"While we expect competitive and market pressures to persist and even intensify, we are confident that we can build further on our momentum as we head into the second half of the year. Over the years, Tattoo has proven itself as the broadband with superior performance in terms of speed, reliability, and value-for-money plans. And with the ongoing network transformation, we expect to deliver on our promise of creating the happiest customers by providing them with the best internet experience," said Ernest L. Cu, Globe president and CEO.

Part of the massive $700-million network modernization program of Globe is a wider coverage of 3G and 4G services, a ten-fold increase in data capacity, and the rollout of an additional 12,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables to enhance internet speeds and service reliability.

Aside from performance, Globe also continuously reinvents itself by coming up with various innovative marketing and promotional strategies to create the most personalized and tailor-fit services for its internet-loving subscribers to further solidify its position as the number one broadband provider in the Philippines.

For instance, Globe broadband combines the services from mobile Globe Postpaid and Tattoo Postpaid broadband to come up with My Ultimate Super Plan, a bundled offer that provides subscribers calls, texts, mobile browsing, and broadband surfing under one plan for as low as P999 a month.

Each plan comes with a free handset and a free Tattoo SuperStick that enables Wi-Fi sharing up to five other devices at the same time. With just a single account, subscribers get the most value for their money compared to subscribing separately to mobile Globe postpaid and broadband Tattoo postpaid plans.

Empowering students to get the most of their campus life, Globe introduced the Tattoo University Sticks (U-Stick) in time for the start of the school year.

Available in either Tattoo 3G Stick or Tattoo 4G SuperStick, each device comes with one-year free unlimited access to the subscriber's school website, Yahoo!Mail, Google Mail as well as free 10-day unlimited access to Facebook and Twitter.

In addition, the Tattoo U-Stick offers a special surfing rate of P25 for three hours valid for one day and a 2 GB micro-SD card that will enable the dual functionality of the Tattoo U-Stick as a mobile broadband stick and a USB device.

Xstrata Sagittarius deploys Radwin wireless broadband systems

Radwin, the global provider of Backhaul and Broadband Wireless solutions, has said that the Xstrata Sagittarius Mining Company in the Philippines deployed the RADWIN 2000 point to point systems to connect its offices and provide voice and data backhaul between the offices and tower relay sites. Radwin’s systems are also used for video surveillance, providing video transmission from the tower sites back to company headquarters for enhanced security monitoring. Diagnostic Orthogon Systems, a leading system integrator in the Philippines, was responsible for project design and implementation. Jake Laguerder, Head of IT at Xstrata Mining: “We chose RADWIN’s solutions because they deliver TDM and Ethernet in one system. The solutions empower us to establish our own backbone network instead of leasing lines from telcos, thus significantly reducing our costs. RADWIN’s solutions also deliver real-time video so we can monitor the activity in each tower site 24/7. Using RADWIN, we have complete control of our network and can easily and quickly deploy new sites.” Rene Lebrun, CEO of Diagnotic-Orthogon Systems: “Radwin’s links provide exceptional carrier-grade performance that places them a cut above other solutions that Xstrata tested. They operate over extremely long ranges, with some links connecting offices as far as 50 km/31 miles apart. The links operate in tough weather conditions typical to the area such as fluctuating temperatures, heavy rainfall and strong winds and they can also be powered by solar panels which is critical in jungle areas.” “We are proud to include the Xstrata Mining Company among our customer base,” said Moty Niv, Radwin’s Sales Director, South East Asia. “This latest win is testament to the effectiveness of our solutions and the exceptional performance and business value they deliver to customers. In choosing RADWIN, Xstrata was able to cut costs and eliminate expensive leased lines charges while enjoying a solution that delivers high quality voice, video and data services on one link.”