Chikka Asia now connected to Sun Cellular community

Chikka Asia, creator of the popular two-way, PC-to-mobile text service Chikka, announced that it is now connected to the Sun Cellular community.

"The Chikka community warmly welcomes its new instant messaging buddies from Sun. The fact is the community has been clamoring for Sun ever since their big entry in 2002. But with the even greater vibrancy that the Sun Cellular subscriber community enjoys today, it is the best time ever for the two communities to come together," said Chito Bustamante, chief operating officer of Chikka Asia Inc.

Close to 20 million Chikka users, a significant sector of which are overseas Filipinos who are online via the Internet, are now able to send text messages freely to friends and loved ones who are Sun subscribers in the Philippines.

While free PC-to-Sun Cellular messages are limited, a reply from a Sun "buddy" from his mobile would replenish these credits.

Under the general terms for use of Chikka, a Sun subscriber may also sign in to the Internet-based application using his Sun Cellular phone number, thus retaining his identity over Chikka even as he sends free messages over the Net to any Philippine-based mobiles.

"This significant Sun Cellular and Chikka partnership gives Sun subscribers even more value for their money. We are a pioneer in revolutionary services such as 24/7 Call & Text Unlimited, the 24/7 Text Unlimited and the 24/7 Text Unlimited Lite that aim to give the best deals to our rapidly growing subscriber base," said Paolo Castaneda, Sun Cellular senior marketing manager for value-added services.

"This joint venture with Chikka further strengthens Sun’s commitment to constantly improve our services and provide our clients with affordable and convenient mobile communications," Castaneda added.

Bustamante said the partnership "is significant for Chikka as we have practically completed our rollout to 100 percent of the addressable Philippine market with all the major mobile operators."

"As we speak, we are talking with more and more international telcos, to unite their communities with ours," he said.

Aside from all major Philippine GSM carriers, Chikka also connects to major US mobile network operators Cingular Wireless, AT&T, and Verizon.

Recently, the company, in a partnership with popular Internet and mobile portal Indiatimes, launched Chikka for the Indian market, uniting the Indian online community with the 50 million-strong Indian mobile community.

With various wireless applications now made available to over 30 telecoms carriers in 11 countries, including the US, China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and India, Chikka is the Philippines’ leading "exporter" of SMS-based applications.

According to the company, Chikka Messenger, with close to 25 million users today, would be the most widely used and viewed electronic property by Filipinos worldwide, next to e-mail itself.