With 73.5% SIM card penetration in a market of 90 million people, The Philippines has been pioneering innovations and surprising the world. It was among the first countries to publicize SMS remittance and SMS credit transfer services. The Filipinos send 1.39 billion SMS everyday. No wonder the text messaging revenues remain at par with voice earnings in this SMS capital of the world. Smart Communications and Globe Telecom – are two of the most profitable mobile operators in the world (both with wireless EBITDA margins over 60% in 2008).
But Philippines’ blended MOU (minutes of use) is markedly below among the other Asian markets. Each Filipino roughly speaks for only 18 minutes per month. The average mobile user in Thailand uses more voice minutes in one month than a Filipino user in a year, a Frost & Sullivan analyst says.
The leading operators charge their customers at 60-second pulse basis. That means a 61-second call is charged for two minutes, which inhibits the Filipinos to talk. It has prompted the third player, Sun Cellular, offering unlimited in-network calling plans, the first of its kind in Philippines. Sun had gained four percentage points in market share to 12% and now it hold second position in the post-paid market. Now the regulator has planned to scrap 60-seconds pulse and ask the industry to introduce 6-seconds pulse instead. A regulatory official claims, “This bill will really give more teeth to us as a regulator.”
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