Smart successfully tests 3G int’l video call service

Prepaid and postpaid subscribers of leading wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. using 3G-capable handsets will soon be able to see their family and friends in several countries when making calls.

Smart has just successfully tested its 3G international video call service with NTT DoCoMo in Japan as well as with seven other leading foreign mobile network operators including Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan, Starhub in Singapore, Mobilkom in Austria and CSL, Sunday, Hutchison, and Smartone in Hong Kong.

Millions of subscribers of these foreign mobile network operators will also be able to enjoy making video calls to the Philippines. In Japan alone, NTT DoCoMo has over 51 million subscribers, more than 23 million of which are 3G subscribers who can make video calls to Smart 3G subscribers.

"We are working on bringing the Smart 3G International Video Call Service to more countries to serve the needs of our OFW families so that they can keep in touch through video calling, on top of call and text," according to Roger Quevedo, Smart head for wholesale business group.

With the successful international tests, Smart plans to make the service available soon. The telco expects that OFWs and their families will contribute to the increased usage of Smart 3G.

For his part, Smart head of consumer wireless division Butch Jimenez said: "Through this international video call service, our subscribers will soon be able to interactively connect with the people that matter to them most, despite great distances and differences in time. This is one of the exciting features of our Smart 3G technology."

Smart 3G International Video Call Service is targeted at the country’s millions of OFWs and their families. According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, there are an estimated 378,000 Filipinos in Japan, 212,000 in Hong Kong, 172,000 in Taiwan, 146,000 in Singapore and 28,000 in Austria.

Smart also plans to widen the coverage of its 3G International Video Call Service in the next few weeks, allowing its 3G subscribers to call and see their loved ones abroad, whether in Asia, America, Europe or the Middle East.

3G is shorthand for the next generation of mobile communications networks running on the WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) platform. This technology allows for faster data transmission speeds from 114 kbps up to two Mbps, making possible high-speed data communications and mobile multimedia services such as video conferencing, audio streaming and mobile internet.

Smart is the first and currently the only operator in the Philippines to publicly offer 3G services since it opened its network on a free trial basis to its subscribers with 3G-capable handsets in selected key cities last Feb. 14. The launch came less than two months after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) awarded Smart its 3G license in late December 2005.

In just three months since it started its 3G network rollout, Smart has achieved 3G presence in approximately 60 cities, accounting for over 50 percent of the total number of cities nationwide. More than 20 municipalities outside Metro Manila are also now covered by Smart 3G.