MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), through investment arm PLDT Capital, has entered into a joint venture with US-based mobile platform firm Phunware to market the latter’s products in Southeast Asia.
PLDT said the new partnership involves a total investment of $10 million that would enable PLDT’s subsidiary, ePLDT, to exclusively distribute Phunware’s targeted mobile and multiscreen solutions in the region.
Through its pioneering Multiscreen as a Service platform, Phunware is providing companies the tools they need to engage with their customers through mobile devices, from indoor and outdoor location-based marketing and advertising to content management, notifications and analytics, to indoor mapping, navigation and wayfinding.
At present, Phunware supports more than 500 million monthly unique users globally on its multiscreen cloud platform, including branded application portfolios and infrastructure for hundreds of enterprise customers across more than 40 billion indoor and outdoor user events.
Phunware’s list of customers include CBS Interactive, NBC Sports, Dignity Health, GameStop, Mandarin Oriental and WWE.
The partnership comes as Filipino and Asean consumers are considered to be among the most engaged users of mobile and digital services in the world.
“The partnership of the PLDT Group and Phunware will also enable our corporate and SME clients to address the growing needs and appetites of their digital consumers,” Winston Damarillo, managing director of PLDT Capital and chief strategy officer of PLDT said.
Eric Alberto, ePLDT chief executive officer and PLDT executive vice president said the joint venture would give companies engaged in retail, travel, hospitality and real estate an edge.