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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
ONE of four companies earlier awarded a license
to operate 3G (third-generation) technology said it would focus on
mobile advertising to compete in the hotly contested telecom market.
Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise Inc.
(CURE), ownership in which recently passed from the Ongpin family to
a unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), on Monday
unveiled the first advertising-funded mobile platform in Asia called
umobile.
The service launch comes on the heels of PLDT
unit Smart Communication Inc.’s acquisition of two Ongpin-led
companies that own CURE for P419.54 million. PH Communications
Holdings Corp. and Francom Holdings Inc. each hold a 96.57-percent
and 3.43-percent stake, respectively, in CURE.
Ardie Balderrama, CURE chief marketing officer
said the ad-funded mobile phone service would mean that subscribers
can avail of the company’s services for free.
Balderrama said CURE will offer a subscriber
free mobile calls, text messaging, Internet surfing, among others.
“The usage of our consumers will be subsidized
by our advertisers,” he said, adding that the company is in talks
with five to 10 sponsoring firms.
Subscribers will earn load by watching
commercials or clicking advertisements. The umobile will be rolled
out to consumers by next month.
CURE’s services include mobile broadband
access to the Internet, the use of mobile voice over Internet
protocol and live chat with Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ,
SIP, Twitter, Yahoo and AIM.
“We are not a traditional telecommunications
company. We are a mobile marketing company that enhances the
relationship between brands and consumers,” Balderrama said.
“Through umobile, we offer advertisers the
opportunity to tap into this emerging marketing medium where they
can directly target the consumers they want to reach,” he added.
The CURE executive said the company will focus
on a niche market composed of men and women aged 15 to 35 years, who
collectively comprise about 45 percent of the country’s
population.
“The power of advertising is now dominant. We
believe that the mobile advertising market will grow further,”
Balderrama said.
In 2006, mobile advertising was a $871-million
business worldwide.
According to ABI Research, mobile marketing and
advertising is expected to reach $19 billion globally by 2011.
At present, most mobile advertising takes the
form of text messages. But telecom companies have begun to offer ads
to mobile phone handset owners through video clips, music and game
downloads, among others.
CURE’s move will put pressure on the
traditional advertising platform such as television, radio, print
and billboards.
Last year, the country’s media spend amounted
to P154.4 billion from the previous year’s P143.54 billion.
Besides the corporate market, CURE may tap
politicians who want to be advertised, Balderrama said.
“Umobile ensures advertisers will get a mobile
campaign especially designed for the target market through its
detailed subscriber database. Instead of a mass text to faceless
subscribers, umobile will help develop customized mobile marketing
campaigns with information from its customer profiles,” he said.
The CURE executive said that umobile will run a
3G network and most of its products and services will harness the
technology, but subscribers on a 2G and 2.5G network can still make
use of basic model telephony services such as voice calls, sending
and receiving SMS and MMS.
Balderrama said umobile will largely be
by-invitation and only around 10,000 subscribers will be accepted
every month. These subscribers will be given P100 free load for the
six months upon activation.
At present, CURE is interconnected with Smart,
PLDT, Pilipino Telephone Corp. and Bayan Telecommunications Inc.
“We are still in the process of interconnecting with Sun Cellular
and Globe,” Balderrama said.
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