CURE to replace Piltel as mobile phone unit

MANILA, Philippines - Top mobile phone service provider Smart Communications plans to retain Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise (CURE), a telecommunications company it acquired from the group of businessman Roberto Ongpin, as a separate business concern.

Smart chief wireless advisor Orlando Vea said that unlike Smart subsidiary Pilipino Telephone Inc. (Piltel) which is selling its mobile phone business to its parent and is converting itself into a holding company for its 20-percent stake in the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), CURE will remain to be owned by Smart.

“What Red Mobile (CURE’s mobile business brand) is to Smart is what Piltel is like to Smart before the consolidation of the wireless business,” Vea explained.

CURE also utilizes Smart’s mobile network under a facilities management agreement in the same way Piltel was paying for the use of Smart’s network. There are currently 100,000 Red Mobile subscribers, which Vea emphasized is a good number for a new brand.

Piltel shareholders approved last Monday the sale for P11.5 billion of its telecommunications business to Smart, which owns 92.8 percent of Piltel. Of the P11.5 billion to be paid in cash and sourced from Smart’s corporate funds, P8 billion will be for the sale of the Piltel trademark while P1.2 billion will be for the transfer of Piltel’s 16.6 million subscriber base to Smart and P2.3 billion for the sale of its GSM fixed assets.

Following the sale, the Smart wireless business will own not only the Smart Gold postpaid brand and the Smart Buddy prepaid brand but also the Talk ‘n Text brand. It will likewise indirectly own, through wholly-owned subsidiary CURE, the Red Mobile brand.

Vea said aside from pushing the frontiers in their growth areas particularly broadband, Smart is innovating on its main services of voice and text.

As part of this strategy, Red Mobile unveiled yesterday its expanded service offerings now available on both the 2G and 3G networks.

For as low as P30, its subscribers can enjoy the country’s lowest call rate of 50 centavos per minute for all Red-to-Red voice and video calls. Text messages from Red to Red are also at 50 centavos per text.

“This newest service offering of Red Mobile is part of our effort to provide the consumer with enhanced services to address their varying communication needs. By making our service now available on 2G, and by utilizing the nationwidest network of the country’s leading wireless service provider (Smart), we are making value-for-money services more accessible to the increasingly mobile Filipino,” Vea added.

The acquisition by Smart of CURE was aimed at expanding and complementing Smart’s 3G service, which includes the rollout of higher speed wireless broadband services.

Smart wireless consumer division head Danilo Mojica pointed out that by combining Red Mobile’s revolutionary call rates and services with Smart’s telecommunications infrastructure and technology, subscribers are assured of the same network coverage, same call quality, and same load distribution channel comprised of over a million load retailers nationwide.

For his part, Smart department head for Red Mobile Guido Caballerao explained that this move to make the country’s lowest call rate available to a wider consumer base via the 2G network is their response to the clamor for more affordable call packages.

The newest offering of Red Mobile, which now only needs a top-up of P30 worth of load, no longer requires registration to avail of the 50 centavos Red-to-Red call rate. The P30 load offering is valid for both 2G and 3G calls.

Red Mobile’s offer is consumable to the last centavo, giving the subscriber the flexibility to make a phone call or send an SMS message (Red-to-Red) or even to another network. However, calls from Red Mobile to Smart, Talk ‘n Text, and other networks are charged there regular rate of P6.50 per minute and vice-versa while texts from Red to other networks and vice-versa are charged P1 per message.