Globe eyes 10,000 international roaming prepaid subscribers

Globe Telecom is targeting at least 10,000 of its 4. 5 million prepaid subcribers to subscribe to its international roaming service, a close to $2-million investment poured in by the cellular firm that allows prepaid customers to send and receive calls and text messages when abroad.

In a press briefing, Globe senior manager for mobile usage James Ileto said the target number of prepaid roaming users is expected to grow to 30,000 by the end of this year.

"Our forecast is tamed down. We don’t know yet if the market will take it. But as early as now we have had close to 100 applicants who are existing Globe prepaid subscribers during the first two days when this was introduced to the public last April 28. In a month, we expect some five to 10,000 users," Ileto said.

Ileto said the $2-million investment forms part of the programmed capital expenditure of Globe placed at P5.2 billion for the first quarter of 2002.

"We purchased a software developed by a third party company, which is Global International Technologies, together with Nokia and Ericsson. But we have to develop the software and customize this to our requirement," Ileto said.

In terms of revenue, Ileto did not quantify but said that they expect these 10,000 users to make four to five international roaming calls and 10 text messages in a day. "The average traffic per user is expected to double towards the end of the year.

As soon as users get comfortable with it, the calls will surely double, the short message service (SMS) will grow especially because incoming SMS are free," Ileto added.

As of March 2002, Globe’s wireless subscriber base reached five million. Over two million new subscribers were added from the same period last year, representing a 71 percent increase. Ileto said Globe’s post paid subscribers who enrolled in its roaming service contribute P1 billion a year to the cellular firm’s overall revenue collection.

"We expect some income from the prepaid roaming service but not as high as those from the postpaid," he said.

Globe started offering international roaming to its post-paid subscribers in 1995 and has almost 200 partners to date.

Prepaid roaming is initially available in 10 top roaming destinations of Globe subscribers, namely USA, China, Thailand, Hongkong, Indonesia, Singapore, UK, Autralia, Italy and Germany. Roaming destinations will eventually expand to 100 destinations before the end of this year.

Ileto said Globe is providing flat rates for outgoing and incoming calls and messages so as not to complicate things for its prepaid subscribers. Charges depend on the type of call made.

For instance, outgoing call rates to the Philippines is P125 for the first minute and P62.50 per 30 seconds thereafter; outgoing IDD rates to any country while roaming is P135 for the first minute and P67.50 per 30 seconds thereafter; incoming call rates while roaming is P55 per minute; outgoing SMS charges while roaming is P25 per SMS; while incoming SMS is free of charge.

Globe prepaid subscribers also have three options to reload while overseas. First, is to bring Globe prepaid call cards. Subscribers only need to maintain a minimum balance of P135 in order to use prepaid roaming service while overseas to ensure that the call will not suddenly be terminated due to low balance.