Smart Communications Inc. said combined mobile Internet and broadband revenues increased 14.4 percent in the first nine months to P15.6 billion, on renewed digital strategy that focuses on new mobile data offers and digital partnerships.
Revenues were supported by an upsurge in mobile data usage, which posted a 139-percent growth in the amount of data traffic being exchanged within Smart’s mobile network, the wireless unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said.
Smart executive vice president and head of consumer business Ariel Fermin attributed the company’s breakthrough data performance to the back-to-back partnerships that it recently signed with global digital technology companies.
He said these partnerships brought a slew of new digital offers into the hands of more mobile users in the country under the ‘Smart Life’ campaign, which gives them the best of entertainment, convenience, urban comforts and peace of mind wherever they go.
This includes Smart’s partnerships for entertainment with iFlix, Fox, MCA Music, and Sony Music, as well as with leading digital companies such as Uber, the world’s most popular ride-sharing service and Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company.
“We’re now seeing the effects of a revitalized digital strategy for mobile which focuses on providing a superior ‘Smart Life’ proposition to subscribers. Our partnerships that bring them the best offers from the world’s leading digital companies will continue to drive data growth as more users access the Internet on their smartphone devices,” Fermin said.
These new partnerships are tied into a more streamlined suite of mobile data offerings, bannered by its Big Bytes 50 offer that includes 350 MB of open-access data, plus 600 MB of additional data for iflix, FOX and SPINNR, valid for three days.
Smart said it took this approach to ride the wave of rising smartphone ownership within its network, which stood at more than 35 percent of its cellular subscriber base, half of which now pay for data access.
Smart’s wireless broadband business saw a similar uptrend in growth as it posted strong increase in revenues, following a 41-percent increase in subscribers which stood at 3.8 million as of the third quarter of 2015.
This was buoyed by Smart’s aggressive campaign revolving around the ability to “Share the Smart Life,” which offers the biggest amount of mobile data in the market along with Smart Bro’s 4G Pocket WiFi offers, powered by the country’s biggest broadband network.
“We aim to sustain this growth in our mobile data and broadband businesses with more compelling offers and stronger digital partnerships well into next year,” Fermin said.
PLDT earmarked P43 billion for capital expenditure this year to build out network capacity, coverage and resiliency as well as to expand the coverage of its 3G and 4G networks nationwide.