No deal this year for Voyager, Chinese partner

MANILA, Philippines — Voyager Innovations Inc., a unit of PLDT Inc., is unlikely to seal a deal with a strategic partner within the year with no feedback received from Chinese internet giant Tencent.

“We have not received any word, one way or the other, from Tencent. In the meantime, we have a business to run, so we are assuming at least for the moment, we will not have a strategic partner and we will proceed with our own plans with Voyager,” PLDT chairman and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said when asked for an update on the strategic partner for Voyager.

Voyager, which was in talks with potential strategic partners, was expected to seal a deal with foreign partners within the first quarter.

Since Voyager has not received a confirmation from Tencent, Pangilinan said Voyager would pursue plans on its own.

“So, we’ll carry on. Since the talks with Tencent started, the volume of business and the number of accounts on PayMaya  have grown. Equally with Lendr, the same thing. There are a number of accounts and volume throughput that have increased since late last year and freenet  has done very well for the past few months. So, we’re encouraged with that. And that was done without any strategic partner,” Pangilinan  said.

Asked if Voyager is scouting for other potential partners, he said the firm is not looking at the moment.

“I think it is important for us to rethink what Voyager could do under the current circumstances. I think we are also learning about the business,” he said.

Earlier, Voyager president and chief executive officer Orlando Vea said having a strategic partner would be beneficial for the company which plans to expand to two to three markets within the Asian region this year.

 Pangilinan said Voyager has yet to finalize expansion plans in the region.

Voyager offers products and services focused on digital access, customer engagement, digital commerce and digital financial services.

Among its products is online prepaid payment app PayMaya, which allows users to make payments using their smartphones by scanning Quick Response codes at counters, as well as to purchase goods or services online even without a credit card.

Voyager is likewise behind remittance network Smart Padala and digital lending platform Lendr.