Facebook, twitter messages surge 200% during holidays

CEBU, Philippines - Globe Telecom reported an increase of calls made during the Christmas holidays by an average of 50 percent, while yuletide greetings sent through Facebook and twitter increased by almost 200 percent.

The company revealed that its subscribers called and logged on the internet more during Christmas and New Year to send their holiday greetings, on the back of innovative offers on voice calls and broadband services for both postpaid and pre-paid packages.

In a report, voice call minutes during the peak holiday dates of December 24, 25, 31 and January 1 increased by an average of 50 percent year-on-year. On New Year’s Day alone, the number of calls made increased by 70 percent compared to last year.

“We surmise that the increase in call traffic means that customers have responded well to our call offers and promos available during the period,” said Nikko Acosta, Head for International and Core Services of Globe.

Even during the holidays, Globe continued to provide bulk voice offers like SuperCombo and AstigCombo promos and international call promos such as Globe IDD Sakto Calls and Globe IDD Tingi. This made calling more affordable for subscribers who wished to connect with their loved ones here or abroad, Acosta said.

Internet usage, for the holidays also peaked by an average of almost 200 percent with users taking advantage of the phenomenal growth of Facebook and Twitter to send their yuletide greetings.

The Philippines is now at 6th place in the roster of top Facebook users as of December 2010, showing an unprecedented growth of 4,738 percent over the last two years.

Likewise, the Philippines is also the 4th largest in the number of Twitter users across Asia with over 3 million users.

“Greater accessibility to the internet, now with more affordable rates and growing preference for social networking made Filipinos turn to these channels to send greetings at least during the holidays,” added Acosta.

Moving forward to 2011, Globe will continue to offer exciting and affordable voice and data promos while strengthening its network capacities to fully support its services.

The company recently announced its plans to increase network capacity in light of the upsurge in voice and data usage. Globe serves over 25 million subscribers and is the leading brand in the postpaid category with revenues in excess of P10 billion as of third quarter of 2010 with over a million postpaid subscribers.

Meanwhile, Globe recently announced its introduction of most customizeable data plans for tablet devices, following the success of its personalized postpaid plans, and increasing demand for mobile internet services among Filipino consumers.

Tablet devices are next generation personal computers equipped with a touch-screen as primary device deemed to be the next digital wave of the future. This allows users to access Internet anytime, anywhere. (FREEMAN)