Globe expects surge in mobile broadband use

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom said it expects demand for mobile broadband services in the Philippines to grow in line with the increasing number of smartphone users in the country and Filipinos’ penchant to access social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

As this developed, Globe chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, along with key executives of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) led by its Group CEO Chua Sock Koong, and Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu paid a courtesy call on President Aquino during their visit to Manila this week.

During the meeting, Chua reiterated SingTel’s commitment to its investments in the Philippines, primarily through Globe. The group has collaborated on a number of strategic initiatives, including marketing projects and technical trials.

The SingTel Group’s footprint covers more than two billion population across Asia and Africa, serving 368 million mobile customers in 25 countries. Aside from Globe, SingTel affiliates and subsidiaries include Australia’s Optus, Advanced Info Service (AIS) of Thailand, India’s Bharti Airtel and PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) of Indonesia.

The Globe-SingTel delegation also included Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan, SingTel International CEO Hui Weng Cheong, SingTel Group CFO Jeann Low and SingTel Group treasurer Koh Kah Sek.

Meanwhile, Cu said in his presentation during the Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong, an annual gathering of thousands of CEOs and key executives of the region’s mobile industry, that “demand for mobile broadband is inherently there as the market for mobile telephony has already reached its mature stage, though 96 percent of our total subscriber base are prepaid customers.”

A smartphone is a type of mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a basic feature phone. A study by New York-based technology market intelligence firm ABI Research showed that over 27 percent of all smartphones released in the market to date are priced at under $200 (about P9,100) and by 2014, that percentage could hit over 45 percent.

Cu noted that smartphone sales of Globe alone are up to 40,000 units a month.

Cu added that the paucity of fixed-line infrastructure in the Philippines, being an archipelago, bodes well for the growth of mobile broadband in the country. The Philippines has just 2.5 million wireline connections, giving it a household penetration of only 10 percent. By contrast, there are about 80 million SIMs in use in the country.