Globe to provide more mobile services in Europe

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc., jointly owned by conglomerate Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., is looking at entering into more partnerships to provide mobile telephony services in other European countries.

Globe chief financial officer Alberto de Larrazabal said in an interview with reporters that the telecom provider is in talks with other carriers in Europe to provide services to Filipinos working and living in Europe.

 â€œThere are other markets that we are looking at and hopefully we will be able to do some more this year. The focus is more on Europe at this point in time,” he stressed.

Last July 20, Globe’s UK Globetel Limited and Transatel of France signed a partnership agreement to provide mobile telephony services such as voice calls, short messaging system (SMS), multimedia messaging system (MMS), load top-up, and mobile data.

The services would be offered by UK Globetel to Filipinos based or visiting the UK through the French firm’s platform.

Earlier, Globe partnered with UK-based iVitta to strengthen its foothold in the seafarer market.

The company will offer an exclusive SIM card that will provide Filipino seafarers the lowest call and text rates when communicating with their families and loved ones in the Philippines.

The Globe Seafarer SIM allows Filipino mariners from anywhere in the world to regularly keep in touch with their loved ones back home at affordable call and text rates without the need for expensive satellite equipment connections using two numbers in one SIM – an international mobile number and a local Globe mobile number. Using their international mobile number, seafarers can call the Philippines for as low as $0.20 per minute and text for as low as $0.10 per message.

On the other hand, with the seafarer’s local Globe mobile number, calls from the Philippines using a Globe or TM number will be charged with local Philippine calling rates of only P6.50 per minute.

The Globe Seafarer SIM Card can be used on most networks using a global interconnection with over 650 GSM networks worldwide.

Close to 500,000 Filipino seafarers are serving on international commercial fleets as of end-2012.

De Larrazabal said Globe is also looking at other markets in Asia particularly Hong Kong as well as the Middle East.

However, he said talks would depend on the openness of the countries in Asia and the Middle East to provide such services.

“Hong Kong is a competitive market but the Middle East has not yet been open to the idea,” he added.

Globe reported a 14-percent increase in its subscriber base to 36.1 million in the first half of the year.