PLDT unit mulls expansion in areas covered by CEB tieup

MANILA, Philippines - A unit of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is looking at expanding the reach of a special offer providing Filipinos working and living abroad with free SIM cards through a tie up with publicly-listed Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific).

PLDT Global head for sales, marketing and product management Ricardo Isla said the company is currently looking at widening the reach of an ongoing special offer to more destinations with high population densities of overseas Filipino workers such as Hong Kong and Macau.

Early this month, PLDT Global teamed up with its sister firm Sun Cellular and Cebu Pacific (CEB) to offer free SIM cards to OFWs bound for Singapore and Malaysia in an effort to provide global Filipinos with strong mobile connections abroad.

“This team up has been launched to provide our dear global Filipinos with an easy access to strong connections, which they can use to communicate constantly with their loved ones in the country, and even with the rest of the world,” Isla stressed.

Coined as the “Cebu Pacific SIM”, this first-of-its kind offering gives OFWs prepaid lines that they could instantly use for making local calls and sending text messages once they land in their destination countries.

The SIM cards also come with a free preloaded value of SG1 (Singapore) and RM5 (Malaysia) consumable load which is approximately six and 10 minute calls to the Philippines, respectively.

The features of this SIM have been patterned after the renowned Smart Pinoy SIM but as a value-added feature of the partnership with the airline giant, it also gives subscribers chances to win tickets to the Philippines via Cebu Pacific Air.

“To earn raffle entries for these free roundtrip tickets, OFWs must first facilitate a one-time registration of their Ceb SIMs at the nearest Smart Pinoy Centers and make calls to Sun Cellular numbers in the Philippines,” he said.

For her part, Sun Cellular assistant vice president for international services Edith Gomez said the tie up with PLDT Global and Cebu Pacific reinforces the company’s efforts to provide the best-value international services to global Filipino subscribers by strengthening communication ties and nurture family relationships despite the distance.

“Of course, thanks to our intensified partnership with PLDT Global. This is just the beginning of our partnership to ensure only the best quality and rates will be given to our subscribers,” Gomez said.

Sun Cellular and Smart Communications Inc. have been providing the best-value IDD rates, and has satisfied the need for affordable communication between Filipinos and their loved ones abroad, aided by boosted collaborations with a multitude of international carriers.

The budget airline owned by taipan John L. Gokongwei Jr. booked a double-digit 11.1 percent growth in volume of passengers to 13.26 million last year from 11.93 million in 2011 on the back of robust domestic and international operations brought about by aggressive sales promotions.

The airline currently flies to 21 international destinations as well as 32 domestic destinations through its six strategically located hubs including Manila, Cebu, Clark, Kalibo, Iloilo, and Davao.

Cebu Pacific currently has a fleet of 41 aircraft including 23 Airbus A320s, 10 Airbus A319s, and eight ATR 72-500 and expects the delivery of seven A320 and two A330s this year. It is scheduled to take the delivery of 19 more A320s and 30 A321 neo aircraft between 2013 and 2021.