PLDT unit re-enters Europe

MANILA, Philippines - A unit of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has tied up with Teleena, a mobile virtual network enabler, to provide telecommunications to Filipinos living and working in the United Kingdom.

PLDT Global Corp. president and chief executive officer Alex Caeg said in a statement that the company has entered into a partnership with mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Teleena on Dec. 15 in London.

“It is our goal to make the 75 million subscribers of PLDT, Smart and Sun in the Philippines accessible to all our countrymen in the UK and soon the various parts of Europe. We will continue to explore possible partnership with Teleena not only in the UK but in other parts of the EU,” Caeg explained.

“Indeed, with the coalition of the two giants, PLDT Global and Teleena, Filipinos in the UK and across Europe can envisage a uniquely Filipino set of services going beyond telecommunications.”

The alliance of the two firms has brought forth to the Filipinos a well differentiated product that brings the unique Smart experience and a slew of services familiar to them. Some of these product features include local and international pass-a-load and e-load services, affordable data bundles, an ever reliable free 24/7 Filipino-speaking customer service and access to the Smart Pinoy Store.

This development also enables PLDT Global to re-enter the European market which it abandoned two to three years ago.  There are about 300,000 Filipinos in Italy alone but the company was forced to abandon due to realities faced then by the company that made its operations not viable.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of PLDT is also is looking at Spain, Greece and Portugal, apart from Italy.

But one of the key features of this service is that it gives the most affordable call and text rates to the Philippines and within the UK.

Calling their loved ones back home on PLDT landlines, they can make 0.04 pence per minute calls through the Sulit TipIDD feature, giving them more time to catch up with relatives despite the distance. Smart Pinoy subscribers can also make calls to any Philippine mobile number at 0.13 pence per minute without any minimum top-up. They can also send text messages to that to any mobile number in the Philippines at 12 pence per SMS.