Globe steps up digital game, unveils new services

MANILA, Philippines - Like a comet streaking across a night sky, blink and you miss it.

That’s pretty much sums up the contemporary wave of digital innovations sweeping through the country. Whether we are positioned or not to take full advantage of them is another matter, of course, but Filipinos have never been known to be laggards in the technology space. In fact, we have a made quite a reputation for ourselves as early adopters who often wait with baited breath for the next big thing.

Globe Telecom is aware of this, and has professed to a mission of enhancing our so-called digital lifestyle. It is “about using a single thread that intertwines together to create a complex web of connectivity,” and enabling us to “reach out to a wider extension” of ourselves.

An estimated 85 percent of the world’s population of seven billion is connected to the Internet; after only 10 years since its inception, Facebook now boasts a staggering 1.28 billion users. These figures underscore the massive growth trajectory of the digital domain. But even as more people are along for the digital ride, their expectations and needs have also grown and evolved – putting the onus on service providers to not just serve up adequate bandwidth but to devise solutions to that would more sensitively and adroitly serve real-world needs.

Today, people’s lifestyles have indeed gone increasingly digital – from how we exercise using personal fitness trackers; entertain ourselves via a multimedia mix of music, words, audio, and video; how we work; and even travel.

At Globe’s recent Digital Lifestyle and Expo held at the SM Megamall, Globe chief operating adviser Peter Bithos said: “Now we’re trying to change your digital experience... we’re trying to find the pain points that exist, and solve them one by one.” He continued that the theme this quarter for Globe is “all things digital.”

The telco giant, Bithos insisted, is taking a track of problem solving through “deep and very proud, innovative partnerships,” such as its deal with commercial music streaming service Spotify a couple of months back. Such pioneering vision had been displayed before, such as when Globe brought Facebook to the Philippines and “introduced it for free for half a year.”

Bithos revealed that Globe is removing another big pain point for its subscribers. “I personally get frustrated in the Philippines that the digital experiences that happen every day in Silicon Valley in the US, UK, and Singapore are not available here all the time,” he said. Bithos rued that buying apps or games in the Google Play digital distribution platform has never been open to a wider swath of Filipino customers – simply because they needed to have a credit card, and market research has shown that only five percent of us do.

The culmination of four years of earnest work at Globe is now remedying this. “Now, 100 million Filipinos can buy any movie, book, app, tool, game or game feature from Google Play,” Bithos declared. Customers can simply just register their Globe subscription details, and Google Play deducts the amount from their load or simply bills them on their postpaid account.

Secondly, Globe is unveiling the so-called Globe Cloud service, which also piggybacks on the newfound ability of customers to charge purchases against their Globe load or subscription.

“We need a cloud service, but a cloud service that offers things tailored to what we need in the Philippines – the ability to buy smaller increments of storage, and do it without a credit card,” averred the Globe executive. Bithos revealed that this is the first service of its kind in the Philippines, and offers 1G of storage free to all who register. Globe Cloud is also available for non-Globe subscribers, although they have to register for a Globe Cloud subscription should more storage space be required.

Available “every screen” and on Android, iOS, PCs, and even 2G devices, the Globe Cloud services offers a variety of plans to suit most budgets and needs. Monthly subscription for an additional 1G is only P15; other monthly plans are for 3G (P45), 5G (P59), 10G (P99), 50G (P299), and 100G (P499) capacities. Annual plans are also offered at the following rates: 1G (P149), 3G (P449), 5G (P599), 10G (P999), 50G (P2,999), and 100G (P4,999).

Globe is also leveraging on its Ayala Group of Companies membership by offering GMovies, which allows subscribers to book movie tickets ahead of time, get seats, and even watch trailers. “This is an app for people who love going to movies… the tickets get sent to the app; there’s no need to stand in line,” said Bithos. Lastly, hardcore gamers, he maintained, can now make purchases online for PlayStation and Xbox gaming platforms via a tie-up of American Express and GCash.

As previously mentioned, Globe now works with a lot of partners in the digital ecosystem to present thoughtful “lifestyle bundles,” which offer a suite of appropriate apps depending on customer need. “This gives them twice the value,” said Bithos. Five packs are available: Chat Bundles for P299 a month (FB Messenger, Line, Kakao Talk, WeChat, WhatsApp, Viber); Photo Bundles for P299/30 days (Instagram, Photogrid, Camera 360, Instasize, Photo Repost); Work Bundles for P299/30 days (Gmail, Yahoo Mail, EverNote, Globe Cloud); Shopping Bundles for P299/30 days (OLX, Amazon Mobile, AyosDito.Ph, Zalora, eBay); and Navigation Bundles for P99/30 days (Waze, GrabTaxi, MMDA, AccuWeather, Google Maps).

Finally, Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu, in a speech, said that Globe is sinking in P10 billion into the network to give subscribers a “wonderful experience,” and pointed to Open Signal, “a crowd-sourced network testing tool,” that proves “that Globe is indeed the superior network.”

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For more information, visit www.globe.com.ph.