One Philippines

Advertise

So far and yet so near pa rin

BEFORE the influx of mobile phones and text messaging, the only way to call or contact relatives and friends abroad were through operator-assisted international calls. I still recall tagging along with my aunt every weekend to the PLDT calling booth in Cubao where she would call my uncle who worked in California. Back then, the phone booths were always full and a long queue of people would wait for their turn to use the “Superman” booth as I fondly called it. Back then, international calls cost an arm and a leg and were considered a luxury. Overseas calls had to be made only during emergencies and special occasions.

Fast forward to the digital age, where the days of the “Hi, Hello, Goodbye” kind of long distance calls are long gone. Now, there are more than a thousand ways to reach our relatives and friends in faraway places. With technology, there’s no reason not to be connected.

Today, millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are now linking up non-stop with their families and loved ones in the Philippines through the many services offered by local telecommunications companies.

Surveys show that many OFWs and their families spend a part of their remittances for mobile communications, particularly for voice, video calling and texting. The lowest average spending would cost P101 per month to P999 and above.

Lower rates, more services

It is estimated that 44 percent of households in the country have a relative or family member working abroad, and the Philippines, touted as the text messaging capital of the world, has a wider base of cellphone users, mostly prepaid subscribers. By the end of December last year, Smart, the biggest telecom company in the Philippines, claimed 31 million subscribers while its closest rival, Globe, pegged its subscriber base at 19 million.

With the increasing popularity of VoIP or free calls using the voice call features of online instant messaging platforms like Yahoo and Skype, telecoms continue to offer lower rates for international outbound and inbound calling and texting.

International roaming is a regular service of local telcos and with the volume of Filipinos going abroad, both Globe and Smart are bolstering their prepaid roaming services with the release of specialized SIM cards and other offers.

For mobile international direct dialing, local callers are charged a flat rate of $0.40 per minute to any country. It’s an affordable amount compared to operator- assisted calls using landlines. Rates for international SMS range from P15 to P20. International voice text costs less at P10 per message. Not bad for people wanting to keep in constant touch.

Competition is a good thing

With PLDT announcing revenues of P86.5 billion last year due mainly to its wireless subsidiaries Smart and Piltel, and Globe netting P13.3 billion in 2007, the telcos have aggressively expanded their services to make long distance communication more convenient and economical for their in-country and OFW customers.

Globe’s OFW SIM Family Pack contains two prepaid SIM cards, one roaming SIM for the subscriber going abroad and another local SIM for the relative in the Philippines. It has open duration for regular countries and a six-month maximum duration for special countries. It offers promos like the zero maintaining balance for international roaming and free delivery of the roaming SIM pack to the U.K. and Saudi Arabia. The pack also includes a privilege and rewards card from One Ayala to entice more subscribers to choose their network.

Smart, on the other hand, pioneered the SmartLink International service focused on sea-based OFWs. It is the first prepaid satellite phone service. It is designed for use in areas that are difficult to reach by cellular signals and landline phones.

Seafarers onboard vessels voyaging in remote areas in Asia-Pacific, Indian Ocean, Middle East, Africa, parts of Russia and Australia can use this service. The service package includes a portable satellite phone and a special SIM pack. The service has been divided into three zones, namely the Economy Zone (within Southeast and Northeast Asia), the Maritime Zone and the Premium Zone. Everything is prepaid so call cards in denominations of 25, 50 and 100 units are available from international distributors.

Instant messaging, value-added services and inquiries through text about the latest currency exchange rates, NAIA flight schedules and job opportunities are also available to OFWs. To keep prepaid international roaming activated, OFWs need to keep a maintaining balance on their phone. This is not a problem because many reloading stations are located abroad and over the air reloading through banks are also offered.

Sending remittances through texts

Yes, the mobile phone is also the new wallet. Mobile phone banking and e-money services are already established with the Smart Money and GCash service. With the Philippines as the fourth-largest receiver of remittances in the world, telcos and local banks have joined together to use the phone as a medium for sending remittances.

Mobile banking services have also extended its features so OFWs can send their remittances. Smart’s mother company, PLDT, initiated the Smart Padala cash remittance service, a proven cheaper and faster way of sending money from abroad through text messaging. It is definitely easy to use, but is it safe?

Liza, a mother of two and a pre-school teacher uses the Smart Padala service. She said she hasn’t encountered any problem so far with the mobile money transfer service. She and her husband signed up for the service because traditional remittance through door-to-door and banks are expensive.
“My husband works in Singapore and he sends us money twice a month,” she said. “When he sends the money, I receive a text message confirming the money transfer and all I would do is to withdraw the cash at any accredited ATM. As a working mother, we really save a lot of money and time using this mobile remittance service,” she narrated.

Western Union gets into the act

In January, the world’s largest money transfer service company, Western Union, partnered with Globe and Smart in a bid to capture a bigger market of OFWs.

The partnership will develop a mobile money transfer service for low-denomination, high-frequency remittances that can be availed by more than eight million OFWs worldwide. Services will be commercially available by the second quarter of this year.

This mobile-to-cash and cash-to-mobile service combines the currently available e-wallet or virtual cash services by telcos with Western Union’s agent locations worldwide, making sending and receiving remittances easier and affordable. The mobile money transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets.

“This agreement is in line with Smart’s thrust to continuously develop low-cost and convenient mobile remittance channels and communications services for overseas Filipino workers,” said Napoleon Nazareno, president of Smart Telecoms.

“We believe pairing Western Union’s global reach with Smart’s active subscriber base and access to Philippine bank networks will increase the ease and flexibility associated with moving money back home to friends and family,” said Patricia Riingen, Western Union vice president for the Philippines.

Globe’s Consumer Wireless Business Group Head Ferdinand Dela Cruz said that their venture with Western Union would increase the accessibility and lower the cost of micro-remittances, which will greatly benefit Filipino overseas workers and their families here in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Smart and Landbank also joined to launch the OFW Cash Card, another mobile remittance money transfer service specially designed for OFWs in the Middle East.