Smart postpaid subscribers jump 43.3%

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Communications Inc., the wireless arm of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), booked a 43.3 percent increase in the number of postpaid subscribers in the first nine months of the year as consumers shifted to the company with the completion of its P67.1 billion network upgrade.

Emmanuel Lorenzana, head of Smart Wireless consumer division, said in a statement that the year-on-year growth was driven mainly by the deluge of first-time postpaid subscribers particularly those who want to experience superior mobile services through the Smart Freedom Plan, and by managing to keep its high-end subscribers.

“We are the fastest-growing postpaid brand in the Philippines outpacing the overall postpaid market’s 28 percent. We are also achieving our goal of strengthening Smart’s position as the premiere postpaid brand. Discerning Filipinos who want nothing but the best experience from their mobile service provider, are joining Smart,” he said.

Launched in July 2012, the Smart Freedom Plan is the Philippines’ only postpaid plan with no lock-in and no fixed monthly service fee. Subscribers pay only for the individual services or service buckets such as UnliCall, UnliText , and UnliSurf that they use.

In the third quarter, Smart postpaid grew at its fastest rate this year in terms of revenue share with a 25 percent jump. The company also maintains the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) in the industry.

 “We are the only telco in the Philippines with a 4-figure ARPU,” he added.

Smart also offers the Smart All-In Postpaid plan starting at just P500 a month which lets subscribers avail of service buckets and the Smart Unli Data Plans which offer unlimited surfing starting at just P1,500 a month.

 “Filipinos want to Live More and Smart is the only network that can let them do so,” Lorenzana said.

Lorenzana alluded to the most recent drive test results which were disclosed by the National Telecommunications Commissions (NTC), the governing regulatory body of the telecommunications industry in the Philippines, which revealed that Smart bested the competition in all five Key Performance Indices (KPIs).

“This time the score is ‘5-0’. Smart outperformed the competition in all five parameters of the 3rd Quarter Quality of Service (QoS) Benchmarking tests,” Smart public affairs head Ramon Isberto said.

Smart has built a reputation for innovation, having introduced world-first wireless data services, such as Smart Money, Smart Load, Smart Padala and the Netphone. Smart also offers 3G and HSPA+ services, and the country’s first and only LTE network.