Called the Tawag ‘N Text Partner, the service can provide additional income and livelihood for barangay-level business partners.
Under the scheme, a Tawag ‘N Text Partner can offer the following services to community members: local calls, cellular to cellular calls, NDD and IDD calls, regular and international text messaging, access to value-added services, and also accept incoming texts and calls.
"This is in line with our thrust to provide telecommunications access to the most number of Filipinos wherever they maybe. We have started dramatic shifts by going down to non-conventional distribution channels with our electronic loading service Talk ‘N Text Load. Now, we are offering voice and text call centers up to the barangay level," according to Piltel president and CEO Gregorio A Atienza.
For his part, Smart marketing manager for Talk ‘N Text and Piltel Products Guido Zaballero noted that Talk ‘N Text has been effective in reaching lower-income markets with affordable handset packages. "The Tawag ‘N Text Program brings mobile communications nearer to our target communities. Not only does it provide access to people without handsets, it also provides micro-entrepreneurship opportunities to our partners," he pointed out.
Requirements to become a Tawag ‘N Text Partner include ownership of a Talk ‘N Text handset and SIM pack, registration with Piltel and application for registration with the National Telecommunications Commission. NTC registration and filing fee are also required for processing. To register, interested parties need only to go to the nearest Smart wireless center with a valid ID, business permit or barangay certificate.
"This program complements well with our ‘retail’-approach in marketing telecommunications services. It lends well to our barangay culture," Zaballero added.
Although mobile penetration rate growth has been rising dramatically, jumping from just 2.2 percent in 1998 to 24 percent today, over-all access to telecommunications remains inadequate. About 35 million Filipinos belong to the low-income D and E market segments, living in areas with inadequate telecommunications facilities.
Talk ‘N Text is marketed by Smart under a reseller agreement with Piltel. Smart has been breaking the cost-barriers in mobile communications services, deploying lower-cost cell sites called Connect Sites to third and fourth class municipalities. It has also successfully launched the country’s first prepaid over-the air reloading service called Smart Load (Talk ‘N Text Load for Talk ‘N Text subscribers). With the mobile commerce service, a prepaid subscriber can reload as low as P30 for three minutes of airtime or 30 text messages, which would be active for three days. The service has now 240,000 retail distributors nationwide.