Globe reports 173% jump in data, 15% rise in voice calls during holidays

MANILA, Philippines - Listed Globe Telecom Inc., jointly owned by conglomerate Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, reported a robust 173 percent surge in data traffic during the Christmas holidays.

Robert Tan, chief technical adviser of Globe, said there was also a double-digit 15 percent growth in voice calls on top of data usage that included Internet surfing on mobile phones, tablets, and computers during the Christmas cross-over in 2013 compared to data usage during Christmas cross-over in 2012.

 â€œThe significant increase in data and voice during the holidays proves that our network is more capable in handling robust demand for fast and stable telecommunication services,” Tan said.

Globe last year completed a $700 million network modernization and transformation program. It is also in the middle of a $90 million information technology upgrade.

Tan said Globe did not suspend any promotional offer during the Christmas holidays further attesting to resiliency and efficiency of Globe network even during peak season.

Despite the increase, he pointed out that Internet activity remained stable attesting to the network capacity and resiliency.

The increase in data traffic reflects the steady rise in demand for mobile Internet services, growing popularity of smartphones, tablets and online social applications as well as the expanded coverage of the company’s fourth generation (4G) infrastructure through the combined technology of long term evolution (LTE) and high speed packet access plus (HSPA+).

 â€œThere has been a notable change in customers’ behavior in sending holiday greetings as they now turn to their smartphones, tablets and computers to send Christmas greetings through online applications such as Facebook, Twitter and other messaging applications,” he added.

According to him, Globe is delighted to provide affordable and stress-free telecommunications service amid the pervasiveness of its 4G network.

However, short messaging system (SMS) inched up only by one percent during Christmas crossover as subscribers shifted to the use of messaging alternatives such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Viber, among other messaging applications using DSL or broadband facilities.

Last year, Globe partnered with seven of the most popular chat applications providers, namely Viber, FB Messenger, KakaoTalk, WeChat, Gmessage, Whatsapp and Line to bundle with the company’s most popular service offerings.

It also introduced a partnership with Facebook to offer free access to Facebook to all of its subscribers over a three-month period as long as they have data-capable gadgets.