Smart, Sun launch new postpaid promos

MANILA, Philippines - The wireless units of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. – Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. – have launched new plans for postpaid subscribers to cement the group’s dominance in the postpaid business.

Kathy Carag, head of the postpaid business group of Smart, said the wireless giant has launched the Family Ties Plan that offers three lines and three smartphones under one plan to cater to families who are interested in communicating beyond the usual calls and texts.

The Smart Family Ties Plan 900 includes unlimited calling within the family circle and unlimited texting to all Smart subscribers, plus 200 free texts to all networks and 100mb of free data for each line, while the Plan 1800 variant includes unlimited calling and texting to all Smart subscribers, plus 200 free texts to all networks and 300mb of free data for each line.

“As the needs of our subscribers – in this case the families – evolve, we are adjusting our products to let them use their subscriptions to avail of more useful and relevant services to strengthen their family ties,” Carag stressed.

Some of the smartphones initially offered by Smart under the family Ties Plan are the O+ USA 8.2, O+ USA 8.31, Lenovo A269i, Alcatel Magic, Lenovo A369i and O+ 8.37.

“Aside from the guaranteed call and text connection provided by Smart’s reliable and most extensive network, the family can now enjoy more life-enriching applications and more online communication options through the free bundled smartphones and the free data allocation for each line,” said Carag.

The default number of lines per subscription is three, but the subscriber may add up to six additional lines per subscription with free smartphones, just adding P300 per line for Plan 900 or P600 per line for Plan 1800.

Carag said the Smart Family Ties Plan is designed to constantly connect the “mobile Filipino family” with a plan that is affordable and easily managed by one member of the household.

 Smart has partnered with worldwide telco giant Vodafone to exclusively promote responsible and safe use of smartphones among young children as the company expects parents who will avail of the Family Ties Plan to hand the mobile lines to their kids who are as young as five years old.

Phones with the Android OS availed under the Family Ties Plan would come pre-installed with the Vodafone Guardian app that gives parents the power to set caller and SMS permissions, filter contacts, block or restrict selected smartphone features, install parental settings, set passwords, and more.

Smart will be among the first to launch this app in Asia because of the partnership with Vodafone for exclusive marketing rights.