Smart revenues surge on LTE upgrade

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT’s wireless unit Smart Communications said more customers have heeded its call to upgrade their SIM cards and devices to LTE, resulting in mobile data revenues surging 20 percent year-on-year to P13.4 billion in the first semester of the year.

Smart for several months now has been encouraging its customers to go to the nearest Smart Store to have their non-LTE SIM replaced with an LTE SIM for free.

The SIM, when used with an LTE-capable handset, will enable the customer to enjoy the fastest mobile internet service that is commercially available in the country, as recognized in the latest survey by Ookla, the global leader in internet testing and analysis.

As a result, 57 percent of active Smart subscribers are now using an LTE SIM, the company said.

The number of new LTE handsets in the Smart network also rose 75 percent in the first half of the year, with LTE handsets making up a third of devices on the network to surpass the number of 3G phones.

According to Smart, customer migration to LTE contributed to higher data usage in the first half, with data traffic in the Smart network rising by 78 percent.

Monetization of data usage likewise improved, with mobile data’s share in PLDT’s wireless individual revenues rising from 38 percent to 45 percent in the six-month period.

“This means that more of our customers are enjoying the fastest LTE service in the country. As their mobile internet experience improves, they try out more data services, especially as we provide attractive offers such as the Free YouTube promo,” PLDT and Smart executive vice president and chief revenue officer Ernesto Alberto said.

Alberto said Smart’s increasing data revenues drove the two percent year-on-year growth in overall wireless individual service revenues to P29.9 billion in the first semester, a turnaround from the year-on-year decline registered in the first half of 2017.