A six-year-old Filipino company started producing mobile phones from a factory in Laguna province this year and now plans to become a major player in the so-called ‘Internet of Things’ in the country.
Star Telecom Alliance Resources Inc., the Filipino company behind mobile phones and tablets under the Starmobile brand, has already assembled 20,000 units of UNO B208 and UNO B308 featurephones at a Calamba facility since June 2017, according to Gerardo Balderrama, the sales and marketing head of Starmobile.
“We are the first local brand to actually produce phones here. We are proud of two particular models—UNO B208, which retails for P599 and UNO B308 which retails for P699. These are made by Filipinos for Filipinos,” says Balderrama.
“The factory is located in Calamba. And this one we are very, very proud of because this is the first time that a local brand is actually producing phones coming from the Philippines,” he says.
Star also teams up with international companies to assemble other featurephones, smartphones, tablets, mobile phone accessories, routers, APs, switches and other network devices. The technology company led by chairman and chief executive Joey Uy, president Michael Chen, chief finance officer Ulysses Lao and chief operating officer Jerry Manus, employs around 140 people in its Pasig headquarters.
“We have produced 20,000 units in our Calamba plant. We are very proud of that. We are the first brand that is really able to provide jobs for Filipinos,” says Balderrama.
Balderrama says aside from the 140 employees in the Pasig headquarters, the partner company that runs the Calamba facility has around 500 employees.
Star started its operations from a single room in Pasig City in 2011. The company initially decided to outsource the manufacturing operations to China, but adopted a Filipino brand to appeal to local consumers. In 2015, Starmobile sold around 50,000 phones each month.
Locally produced UNO B308 exhibits premium design with big TFT screen. It has a camera with flash, multimedia player and LED flashlight. It retails for P699.
UNO B208 is a dual-SIM feature phone with a long battery standby time that sells for P599. It is equipped with FM radio, camera with flash and multimedia playback.
Both featurephones are part of Starmobile’s Star-Tagal Christmas promo which runs until Dec. 31, 2017, where customers who purchase any Starmobile product can get a chance to win prizes. Starmobile is giving away over P4 million worth of prizes, tax-free, including Starmobile devices, home appliances, eight Honda motorcycles, two brand-new Toyota cars or P1 million in cash.
Balderrama says there is a possibility that Star will venture into smartphone assembly in the future. “If it merits that the technology can be brought here, then we can discuss assembling smartphones. That is also our vision or dream to eventually produce or develop smartphones,” he says.
Aside from the two locally-made featurephones, Starmobile also distributes other feature-packed featurephones and smartphones.
“The feature phone market is still very, very strong especially in the provinces. I think, we are still looking at around 50/50 ratio,” he says. “When we see the broadband signal improve in the provinces, then we will see a higher uptake of smartphones. But I am not so sure if that is coming soon. That is also an expensive undertaking to upgrade all your sites to broadband capacity.”
Balderrama says aside from the consumer segment, Star is also moving strong into the corporate sector. It recently teamed up with MLhuillier Group of Companies to design a customized Android smartphone powered by a Smart SIM for the latter’s employees and customers.
He says Star signed a distribution agreement with international network solutions company TP-Link to provide network devices in the country, as the company expands its business beyond smartphones and tablets and into providing connectivity solutions to home, SMEs and enterprise clients.
Balderrama says the company is also expanding its retail distribution to include sari-sari stores and loading stations. It says under the initial phase starting the second half of October 2017, Starmobile’s featurephones will be available in over 20 sari-sari stores and loading stations in Metro Manila, Cagayan De Oro and Zamboanga, providing the brand both urban and rural settings to pilot the pioneering initiative.
“This year, we continue to reach new frontiers in retail as we enter into sari-sari store distribution, again becoming the first tech brand to explore this channel in the Philippines,” he says.
Balderrama says Star also strengthened its ‘Star Standards’ campaign, highlighting the company’s compliance with international industry certifications. Starmobile’s world-class standards also apply to its featurephones assembled in its factory in Calamba. “Even though we are a local player, we are proud to say that Starmobile can stand toe-to-toe with products from international brands in terms of performance and durability,” he says.
“We see this as an opportunity for us to strengthen our position as the leading quality local brand. If there is one thing at Startmobile we are very proud of, it is the fact that we can compete with the leading brands when it comes to quality,” says Balderrama.
“Over the years, we have talked to a lot of people. The general sentiment of people is that they are very happy, with the phone that they got,” he says. “The reason why we are able to claim that is because of the very strict standards that we follow for quality. We have come up with the material that actually defines how we envision the products—starting from the suppliers that we choose to deal with, the parts, the software and to our partner factories who are all certified,” he says.
“We ensure that these are all following the European standards for quality. That is why we are proud that our return on defect rate is at an all-time low. Very recently, we have added the tagline ‘tatagal’ on all our handsets. That is what Starmobile stands for. We believe that this is now an opportune time for us to harp on the quality that our phones have,” he says.
Balderrama says this early, Star is also exploring Internet of Things including appliance products that consumers at home can benefit from in the future. “Right now, IOT is not that advanced here, but I think in a few years, we will start seeing what IoT can do and even now we are preparing for that,” he says.
“We are very proud of the product line that we have. And we are looking forward to ending 2017 very strongly. We are also very positive about what 2018 will bring,” says Balderrama.