Philipino Telephone Corp to Focus on GSM Technology
asia.biz.yahoo.com
MANILA, June 26 Asia Pulse - Cellular firm Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel) is keen on focusing more on marketing its borrowed digital technology, the global system to mobile communications (GSM)
At present, Piltel was able to ride on the text messaging fad through its Talk 'N Text by leasing cellular lines from sister company Smart Communications, Inc.
This enabled Piltel to offer the short message service to the low-end consumer mobile market.
It will be noted that Smart digital service, marketed under the Smart Gold brand, caters to the higher segment of the market.
Piltel vice president for marketing and sales services, Joaquin San Agustin had admitted that the bulk of the present subscriber take-up comes from prepaid GSM cellular service.
The company was able to boost subscriber base to 630,000 middle of June driven primarily by the Talk 'N Text brand.
The brand contributes as much as 145,000 to Piltel's total subscriber base in only two and a half months after it was introduced in the local market.
With regard to its CDMA (code division multiplex access) services,San Agustin said "we are not abandoning our analog and CDMA services. We are maintaining our customers we have there."
He added, "In certain pockets of the market, we still do get uptake from our CDMA and analog services.
He said the success of the brand itself can already be considered a saving grace for the company.
"From a marketing standpoint, I can say that at least people will now take notice of Piltel again. It is somewhat of a turnaround such that we are again competitive," San Agustin said.
Earlier, parent company, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) signed a Master Restructuring Agreement MRA) with at least 30 creditor banks of Piltel
This will lead to the completion of the initial stage of Piltel's debt rehabilitation plan.
Five of the major banks include Land Bank of the Philippines,CitiBank, Metrobank,Chase and Bank of the Philippine Island.
Piltel's total bank indebtedness of approximately P13 billion represents around 37 percent of its total financial and contingent liabilities.
(PNA) |
