Smart cited anew in FEER survey

Smart Communications Inc., the country’s leading mobile phone operator, was cited anew in an annual survey of leading Asian companies. This year, Smart improved its ranking among top Philippine companies from 9th in 2002 to fifth.

Conducted annually by the Far Eastern Economic Review, the survey identifies the leading companies in 12 Asian countries based on the perceptions of the magazine’s readers. Administered by ACNeilsen International Research (Hong Kong), the survey is now in its 11th year.

This is the fourth year in a row that Smart has been included in the Top 10 list. Smart ranked third in innovation in responding to customer needs, fifth in the high quality services/ products category and also fifth in being a role model for other business organizations.

Napoleon L. Nazareno, Smart president and CEO, said the marked improvement in the company’s ranking reflected the substantial improvement in its business performance over the past two years.

"Smart has strengthened its hold on industry leadership by pursuing relentless, rapid innovation in creating products and services that benefit Filipino consumers," Nazareno added.

Smart has over 12 million GSM subscribers using its network, making it the largest cellular operator in the country. It offers several brands such Smart Gold, Smart Buddy, and Addict Mobile. It also services Piltel’s GSM subscribers under the Talk ‘N Text brand.

This year, Smart launched Smart Load, the breakthrough over-the-air reloading service for prepaid users with offerings of as low as P30 per top up. This has enabled the company to reach a broader market for its wireless services.

Smart has been consistently in the top listing since its debut in the magazine’s 1998 survey when it placed ninth among local companies.

Some 2,800 persons in 12 Asian countries participated in the survey. The 12 countries covered were Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Respondents were asked to rank selected multinational and local firms on overall leadership as well as other five key leadership categories: service and product quality, long term vision, innovative response to customer needs, financial soundness, and whether they are companies others try to emulate.