The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Ayala-led Globe Telecom has been cited in American online news site Huffington Post as a Philippine mobile brand that has helped position the country as the “Digital Lifestyle Capital of the World.”
In an article titled “Philippines: A Digital Lifestyle Capital in the Making?” this month, writer Jonha Revesencio said the telco has done this through fast and easy data access, as well as highly affordable content and apps.
“Mobile operators along with local mobile phone brands drive smartphone and mobile internet penetration in the Philippines,” the article said.
“Globe Telecom, the leading network for smartphones covering data traffic of 87,000 terabytes with an increase of 270 percent year-on-year [compared to its main competitor, PLDT Group 48,000 terabytes of data with 167-percent growth] has strongly influenced the digital lifestyle of Filipinos,” it added.
As of March 2015, Globe mobile-data revenues significantly grew by 58 percent from the previous year’s P2.8 billion and by 8 percent from the previous quarter’s P4.1 billion.
Meanwhile, combined mobile Internet revenues of Smart and Sun rose by 19 percent to PhP2.2 bil- lion from PhP1.9 billion in the same three months of last year.
Globe Senior Advisor for Consumer Business Dan Horan explained in a statement that the surge in mobile-data services was spurred by the impact of Globe’s data-adoption strategies from the Free Facebook and Free Viber campaigns, as well as the growing smartphone and mobile-browsing adoption among its customers.
He said this also reflects the phenomenal growth of the telco’s mobile-data business, which, in turn, secures its position as the purveyor of the Filipino digital lifestyle.
“We believe that this is the most appropriate path for us to meet the changing needs of our customers as the world of data becomes more pervasive in their lives,” Horan said.
“With the growing adoption to more connect- ed devices, Globe expects its mobile data business to create deep revenue streams for the company in both the near and long- term period,” he added.
The Philippines currently has 44.2 million Internet users, 90 percent of which have active social media accounts. It currently leads in the average time spent on the Internet through laptop and desktop, and one of the highest via mobile worldwide.
It also records the highest total screen time spent in social networking with 42 percent, based on the We are Social’s Digital Report. PNA