Starmobile, a Filipino smartphone and tablet brand, plans to put up a mobile phone assembly plant in the country within five years, its top executive said Monday.
“There’s a possibility or talks [to build an assembly plant] because labor cost in China is double and triple that of the labor cost here in the Philippines,” Star Telecom Alliance Resources Inc. president Ulysses Lao told reporters at the sidelines of Lazada’s 3-day grand Christmas sale launching at Makati Shangri La Hotel in Makati City.
“In terms of supply and everything, it’s not yet available here, but if you look at the logistics and everything, it is something possible,” Lao said.
Lao said the planned assembly plant could be built within five years in one of the export processing zones to take advantage the tax and incentives from the government.
“Right now, we only have a product development department in our office. We have [developed] some proprietary software,” he said.
Starmobile occupies seven floors of an office building in Kapitolyo, Pasig City, where it has a research and development team.
Smarmobile, a four-year-old company, currently has a 3-percent share of the Philippine mobile phone. “Our target is to increase it to 8 to 10 percent in the next five years,” Lao said.
Jerry Manus, a former executive of Apple and Nokia in the Indochina region, was recently appointed as the new chief operating officer of Starmobile.
Lao said the appointment of Manus as the company’s new chief operating officer would lead Starmobile to a bigger and brighter future.
Manus, in his recent role, pioneered and established the presence of iOS in Indochina, leading the company’s dominance in the market. Prior to Apple, Manus was the country manager of Nokia Cambodia and Laos where he was instrumental in leading the company to sustain market leadership.
Under his mentorship, the Finnish brand’s presence in the region was recognized by global management as a top performing market.
Before venturing abroad, Manus was a key executive of Nokia Philippines where he led distribution and retail operations. The practices and procedures he introduced helped shape the industry to what it is today.
“I am more than thrilled to be part of a homegrown brand,” said Manus. “This will be a great opportunity for Starmobile to further prove that a Filipino company can stand toe-to-toe with the best of the world.”
Star mobile last month launched Knight Spectra, its most advanced cameraphone, which has unique dual rear sensors.