Globe doubles mobile adoption via Facebook

MANILA, Philippines - Listed Globe Telecom Inc., managed to double mobile browsing adoption among its subscribers amid collaboration with social network developers led by Facebook.

Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu said the company’s free Facebook offer boosted mobile internet adoption among Globe customers and helped drive the subscriber uptake as it enabled customers to get into mobile browsing activities without cost.

“By providing free access to Facebook, many of our subscribers have realized the benefits of mobile internet connectivity which helped sustain continued growth in subscriber acquisitions,” he said.

Aside from its collaboration with Facebook, Globe has also partnered with popular message applications such as Viber, Facebook Messenger, Kakao Talk, WeChat, Whatsapp and Line.

The partnerships allowed Globe subscribers to communicate through mobile data services and provided alternatives to traditional phone services.

The collaboration with Facebook brought innovations such as access to all Facebook mobile platforms, charge notifications, one-click to purchase data plans & data access lending to access links outside Facebook.

Globe’s free Facebook offer started in October and ends on April 30.

Globe’s subscriber base jumped by 16 percent to 38.5 million last year from 33.1 million in 2012. In the fourth quarter alone, Globe’s gross subscriber acquisitions registered a quarterly high of 8.8 million subscribers.

The 19 percent increase in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter was steered by record acquisitions of Globe’s prepaid and TM brands.

Combined, Globe prepaid and TM gross acquisitions accounted for 98 percent of acquired SIMs in the fourth quarter driven by market relevant promotions notably the Free Facebook campaign.

Globe reported that incremental subscribers surged by 74 percent to 5.36 million last year from 3.08 million in 2012.

Last November, Globe launched an exclusive and groundbreaking partnership with Facebook allowing its subscribers to have free access to the social networking site using the Globe data network.