Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. (DMPI), the wireless units of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), led the industry in terms of postpaid revenue growth, with combined revenues increasing by 14 percent year-on-year to P21.7 billion in 2014.
Their individual growth rates are also better than that of their competitor’s, with Smart’s postpaid revenues improving by 14 percent, and DMPI mobile brand Sun Cellular’s rising by 13 percent.
“We are happy that our postpaid business scored twin victories in 2014 by posting the fastest growth rates in revenues and subscriber base. This further reinforces the mobile leadership of the PLDT group and places us in a strong position to grow our digital businesses moving forward,” said Napoleon L. Nazareno, PLDT president and CEO.
Smart and Sun earlier reported a 16-percent increase in their combined subscriber base to almost 2.8 million, which accounts for 55 percent of the Philippine mobile postpaid market. Sun’s postpaid base expanded by 16 percent to more than 1.7 million, while Smart’s went up by 17 percent to more than 1 million.
Smart and Sun netted over 387,000 additional subscribers, which comprise 62.1 percent of the net additional subscribers of all mobile operators last year.
“The gains posted by Smart and Sun in 2014 are attributed to PLDT’s integrated wireless network with unparalleled capacity, reach, and resiliency, and attractive device and content offers,” Nazareno said.
Mobile leadership
Smart continues to be the number one mobile service provider in the Philippines, in terms of both subscriber base and revenues. As of end-2014, Smart had over 56.4 million subscribers in its cellular and broadband services.
Together with Sun Cellular, the two wireless units of PLDT further dominate the industry with 72.8 million cellular and broadband subscribers. The two companies also posted combined revenues of P115 billion as of end-2014, about 47 percent higher than the competition’s.
Revenue growth is being led by mobile data usage, which jumped by 63 percent in 2014. This trend is expected to be further strengthened by the rapid growth in the postpaid subscriber base of Smart and Sun.
Data adoption is also being stimulated among Smart, Sun, and Talk ‘N Text prepaid subscribers through Free Internet bundles, the Safezone platform which allows free access to selected applications, and Facebook’s Internet.org which gives free access to 24 websites.
The PLDT group is encouraging mobile data usage through a wide and growing array of music, video, and other multimedia services.
Bolstering postpaid growth
To boost postpaid growth in 2014, Smart unveiled a strong lineup of smartphone offerings for all types of postpaid users, including flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, the Sony Xperia Z1 and Z2, and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Smart also introduced best-value postpaid plans that came with power-packed entry-level handsets, data allowance, andaccess to unlimited music streaming via Spinnr. On top of this, postpaid subscribers were given access to 35 million songs on-the-go through Smart’s exclusive partnership with global music streaming service, Deezer.
To further bolster its postpaid growth, Smart recently introduced a revitalized postpaid lineup with better handsetchoices, bigger data volume allowances, and even FREE music streaming via Deezer for two years. Starting at P999 a month, users can choose from a range of premium handsets that include the Sony Xperia M2 Aqua, the Samsung Galaxy A5, and the Sony Xperia Z3.
Meanwhile, Sun offered its postpaid subscribers affordable packages consisting of wearable devices, smartphones, unlimited Sun calls and texts, texts to other networks, mobile surfing, and unlimitedmusic streaming via Spinnr.
Sun Postpaid also offered the Value MIX, which allowed subscribers to create their own bundles for just an additional P99 a month.