AS more and more people watch videos on their phones, Smart Communications, Inc. continues to grow its content offers for its customers’ viewing pleasure.
Smart’s Video Prime 99 comes with 2GB data allocation and subscription to top streaming sites iflix and iWant TV. Available to Smart Prepaid subscribers, Smart’s Video Prime 99 gives users the convenience of having both subscriptions to iflix and iWant TV, as well as data to stream blockbuster films or series on these mobile apps, valid for 7 days.
“We are continuously improving our roster of popular video content, which our subscribers can access using our improved LTE network. In the end, our goal is provide our customers, not only with a good network, but also with relevant content and value-packed service offers, for a truly superior digital experience like never before,” said PLDT and Smart chief revenue officer Eric R. Alberto.
Filipinos’ increasing appetite for video content is part of a worldwide trend, which points to a continued increase of global mobile video traffic in the next few years.
iFlix, iWant TV
iflix is one of the fastest-growing digital hosting and distribution platforms for Western and Asian dramas obtained through partnerships with over 150 studios and content distributors globally including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, NBC Universal, Fox, CBS, Sony Pictures and Discovery.
iflix also carries Asian series like K-drama hits Descendants of the Sun and Goblin, as well as popular TV series Arrow, The Flash, The Big Bang Theory and Mr. Robot, among others.
Meanwhile, iWant TV, owned and operated by ABS-CBN, streams content from ABS-CBN, ABS-CBN News Channel, ANC, ABS-CBN Sports, DZMM, TeleRadyo and Kapamilya Box Office, including their current roster of telenovelas and classic Star Cinema movies, to name a few.
LTE rollout
To support the rise of bandwidth-heavy activities such as video streaming, Smart has committed to make LTE progressively available to 95 percent of cities and municipalities across the country by end-2018.
LTE, an all-IP network, delivers superior experience for users, particularly for data. It can also be quickly upgraded to LTE-A, which can provide even faster speeds and greater capacity to subscribers who are using LTE SIMs on LTE-capable handsets.
Smart is currently re-equipping its cell sites to use low-frequency bands such as 700 MHz and 850 MHz to provide better indoor coverage. It is also deploying high-frequency bands like 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz to increase the cell sites’ capacity to handle more calls, texts, and ever-increasing mobile data traffic.
The company remains on track to deploy the LTE network in 783 municipalities by end of the year or about half of its three-year target of 1,551 municipalities by end-2018.
This comprehensive network modernization and expansion program is at the core of the PLDT group’s digital pivot. Smart’s network rollout took a big bulk of PLDT’s ramped-up capital expenditure program of P42.8 billion for 2016, which included the utilization of the new frequencies freed up with the acquisition of San Miguel Corporation’s telco assets. PLDT chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan has announced a total capital expenditure of P46 billion this year.
