Smart offers satellite phone service in 10 AsPac nations

Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. is now offering the ACeS satellite phone services in 10 Asia Pacific countries through tieups with national carriers and international distributors.

These countries are Sri Lanka, Palau, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, China, Nepal and Papua New Guinea, said Tina Z. Mariano, head for public access at Smart, which manages ACeS Philippines Cellular Satellite Corp.

Smart, through ACeS Philippines, has a reseller agreement with Mobitel of Sri Lanka, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd., Palau Smart Call Telecom in Palau Islands, and Celcom of Malaysia (formerly TM Cellular Sdn Bhd), she said.

Under the reseller agreement, the national carriers will purchase satellite communications air time from ACeS Philippines and resell the minutes under their own brand, Mariano added.

International distributors, on the other hand, provide service in other countries by purchasing Smart Link satellite phone units and top up cards and selling these, still carrying the Smart brand, to corporate and individual users. These include shipping companies, oil rig businesses and others located in the jungles and remote areas, she added.

ACeS Philippines is a subsidiary of parent firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). It is the Philippine service provider of Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) International, which is 20-percent owned by PLDT.

"We need to push the wall and open possibilities. The satellite business in the domestic market has matured. We have established a niche market in the Philippine maritime industry. We are now forging partnerships with telecommunications companies and international distributors within the footprint of the ACeS satellite," Mariano said.

In the Philippines, there are about 35,000 Smart Link satellite phone units in use, mostly by shipping vessels and in the more isolated parts of the country, she said.

ACeS satellite has a footprint covering 11 million square miles in the Asia-Pacific region, ranging from Pakistan in the west, China, Japan and Korea in the north, to as far as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Satellite telephony helps in providing seamless wireless telecommunications services in areas where digital cellular phone services are not yet available.

In Sri Lanka, for example, Mobitel expects to connect rural areas with the rest of the world by installing payphones that utilize the ACeS satellite technology. Mobitel markets the service under the brand name M-Sat, which it launched in late June.

"With our strong commitment to providing telephony services to underserved and underdeveloped areas, we searched for solutions that would enable Mobitel to provide services to even the remotest part of Sri Lanka. The satellite service provided by ACeS, which has created a niche in providing rural telephony at an affordable price in Indonesia and the Philippines, was best suited keeping these goals in mind," according to Lalith De Silva, chief executive officer at Mobitel, in an ACeS statement.

In Palau Islands, Smart’s Mariano said aside from the locals, about 6,000 Filipino overseas workers and also those from Bangladesh, Taiwan and India use the satellite phone services.

ACeS International launched regional satellite communications services in Asia in early 2001. It has continued to expand its services throughout Asia at affordable prices. ACeS offers digital voice and data over its fixed or mobile terminals. It is slated to offer high-speed data, asset tracking and other services soon.

Aside from PLDT, the other shareholders of ACeS International are PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara of Indonesia, Jasmine International Overseas Ltd. of Thailand and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications of USA.