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SMART Communications Inc. announced Friday that it
will offer new short messa-ging services (SMS) or text messaging for
Korean nationals living in the Philippines.
In a statement, Smart said the
new service will enable Koreans to send text messages in
Korean-characters to Korean-based numbers.
“Smart serves not just
Filipinos, but also foreign nationals residing in the country and
the people they communicate with abroad. In 2006 alone, over 3
billion international connections were logged on the Smart network,
which includes those made by foreign nationals,” Danilo J. Mojica,
head of Smart’s wireless consumer division, said.
The Department of Tourism
reported that the number of Korean tourists from January to April
reached 213,094.
Koreans in the Philippines also
make up the largest community of overseas Koreans in Southeast Asia.
At end-February, they numbered 92,608, roughly doubling since 2005.
“Text messaging is a
cost-effective communications vehicle which people would use more if
they can only communicate in their native tongue,” Mojica said.
 --Darwin
G. Amojelar
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