BayanTel gains more landline subscribers

The Lopez-owned Bayan Telecommunications (BayanTel) continued to gain new landline subscribers as it posted a total of almost 254,000 subscribers by the end of the first quarter of 2004 or 25 percent more than the 208,000 – subscriber base during the same period last year.

This has been the highest subscriber base for BayanTel since January 2002. Bulk of the growth of subscribers is in Metro Manila, where BayanTel serves the communities of Quezon City, Malabon, Valenzuela, Manila and Caloocan.

Between March 2003 to March 2004, BayanTel subscribers in Metro Manila have grown by 34 percent.

Rodrigo Montinola, BayanTel vice president for Metro Manila residential markets, credits the growth in subscriber base to a focused strategy and stronger customer focus.

"We launched Bayan 399, our affordable unlimited local call telephone package, to specifically target those who have no phone households and those looking for a second line for their Internet connection at an affordable price. We focused our selling and marketing efforts with this target market in mind, and we concentrated in areas where we feel we have an advantage in terms of price and reliability," Montinola explained.

He expressed belief subscriber growth can be sustained considering the high value proposition of the service at an affordable price and the increasing Internet penetration in households.

"Despite the advent of mobile technology, we believe a basic fixed- line telephone in a Filipino household continues to be a necessity arising from security concerns, Internet connectivity or simply because it’s a reasonably priced tool to connect with relatives and friends," Montinola stressed.

The growth in BayanTel’s voice services can also be attributed to the 49-percent growth in international long distance revenues, arising from higher minutes and growth in the global prepaid cards catering to the overseas Filipino markets in Japan, the United States, and in other countries.

Officials added that BayanTel’s sustained growth in its fixed line services will be driven by its continued foray in the provincial markets where potential for growth remains high. At present, BayanTel is also the leading provider of fixed line services in Bicol and Eastern Visayas (Leyte and Samar) and has significant market share in other provinces in Visayas and Mindanao.

Mar Santos, vice president for provincial markets, said that BayanTel is also delivering the same high value at a reasonable price and excellent customer service to generate higher growth in the provinces.

"Just recently, we expanded our services in our service areas by rolling out in Samar, with other major cities in the Visayas region like Iloilo already in the pipeline. In short, BayanTel will continue to compete by delivering the best value and service to potential subscribers in the provinces," he pointed out.