PLDT, Facebook boosting tie-up

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s largest telco Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Facebook are looking for ways to strengthen their partnership to make Internet services available to more Filipinos.

In a statement yesterday, the telco said its chairman and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan recently met with Facebook founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California to discuss ways to enhance the two firms’ partnership to introduce Internet to more Filipinos and help change their lives for the better.

PLDT through its wireless arm Smart Communications Inc. was the first telco in Southeast Asia to roll out Free Basics via a partnership with Facebook in March last year.

Free Basics aims to make mobile Internet available to two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected.

Through Free Basics, which is now available in more than 30 countries, individuals can access online sources and services without data charges.

Free Basics allows users to access online information such as news, employment, health, education and other local information.

Millions of users on the Smart network have enjoyed Free Basics since its launch.

Following Free Basics, Smart and Facebook introduced Free Facebook Toggle and Free Instagram, which resulted in a surge in the number of online users.

Apart from meeting with Zuckerberg, Pangilinan also took part in a series of engagements with Silicon Valley leaders and partners as the telco is looking for ways to cater to its subscribers’ digital needs.

PLDT has set its capital expenditures at a record P43 billion this year, with investments to be focused on data services amid growing demand for such.

As of end-2015, PLDT had a total wireless subscriber base of 68.9 million, consisting of over 3.9 million wireless broadband subscribers and about 65 million cellular subscribers.