Next Mobile sets 5-yr expansion

Next Mobile has embarked on an ambitious five-year expansion plan that aims to increase its subscriber base to as much as 300,000 by the end of the program period.

The number however can easily reach a million if NMI succeeds in securing the last remaining 3G (third generation of mobile communications technology) frequency which has not yet been awarded by the National Telecommunications Commission, which earlier this year granted NMI the authority to offer cellular mobile telephone system (CMTS) services.

About 250,000 of the 300,000 targetted subscriber base is expected to come from a new phone service that will be launched soon by NMI. The rest will come from existing market niches, particularly the business segments. NMI currently has 21,000 subscribers from 4,000 corporations.

The country’s newest cellular phone operator is set to launch its "global phone" which will allow Filipinos overseas to call their relatives and business associates in the Philippines without incurring long distance charges, and enable businesses to set-up "virtual offices" around the world within 24 hours.

NMI vice-president for IP services and international business Edward Balontong said the new service will also provide unlimited inbound traffic and competitive IDD and international text messaging rates of only P5 for SMS to US and Canada and P8 for the rest of the world.

Balontong emphasized that this unique phone service will not only provide Filipino mobile users with virtual presence in an initial 38 countries, but will also provide Philippine businesses an added edge to compete in the global markets.

The service will be launched using the Motorola i930 as the launch phone model, the first of its kind cellular phone model that is capable of both GSM and iDEN (integrated digital enhanced network) technologies. This phone will be bundled with the service that provide multiple numbers – two Philippine mobile numbers (one for GSM and another for iDEN) and a choice of a US number or any of the other 37 countries that will initially be made available.

These countries include the US, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore.

For P1,500 a month for both postpaid and prepaid, Balontong said a person abroad can use any phone (whether landline or mobile) to call an IMX (Next Mobile) subscriber in the Philippines unlimited. For the party in the Philippines, the IDD rate will be 10 cents a minute for calls to the US and Canada and 30 cents for the rest of the world. The P1,500 a month package also includes 333 minutes of outgoing calls.

By July this year, NMI will be 97 percent owned by publicly listed company Cashrounds which earlier entered into an agreement to swap new Cashround shares in exchange for NMI shares. On the other hand, NMI shareholders will own 99 percent of Cashrounds.

After the share swap, NMI will be the telecommunications subsidiary of Cashrounds while the latter’s existing online matchmaking business will be handled by another subsidiary. Cashrounds, which will change its name to Information Capital Technology Ventures (ICTV), will be venturing into business process outsourcing, software development, among others.

NMI is likewise expanding its network this year to reach Cebu, and soon to Davao. NMI chief executive officer Mel Velarde said at least three new cellsites will be installed in Cebu. The expansion to Cebu will be financed via a P40-million facility from UCPB.

During the briefing, NMI president and chief operations officer Lambert Ramos also explained that as the newest cellular mobile operator, the company will not be competing head on with industry giants Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Digitel’s Sun Cellular but will instead focus on an entirely different offering.