MANILA, Philippines — Smart Communications Inc. has partnered anew with global communications technology company Vodafone to launch 5G roaming services in Germany, Qatar, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The wireless unit of PLDT and Vodafone have previously partnered for the activation of Smart’s 5G roaming in Australia last March.
Vodafone, the largest fixed and mobile network operator in Europe, has the biggest and fastest-growing 5G network in the continent.
Vodafone also operates fixed networks in 21 countries, and have partners for mobile in 48 more.
“Our massive rollout for Smart 5G roaming supports Smart’s goal to be world-class in digital innovation and customer service,” said Mary Alice Ramos, vice president and head of international roaming at Smart.
“These advances are translated into carefully crafted roaming data plans to support our customers’ passions, as soon as international travel resumes. At the end of the day, making things simple through technology is at the heart of the Smart brand promise,” Ramos said.
Smart’s new partnership with Vodafone is part of the company’s continuous rollout of 5G roaming services in partnership with international telco operators.
Smart currently has 38 telco operators in 27 key markets, including Luxembourg with Proximus, Oman with OmanTel, and Italy with TIM.
This follows the successful rollout in Canada (Telus), United States (AT&T), Thailand (TrueMove and AIS), Switzerland (Sunrise), Denmark (TDC), Ireland (Meteor), Austria (Magenta Austria), Hong Kong (SmarTone and HKT), Israel (Pelephone), Turkey (Turkcell), Kuwait (Zain, Ooredoo, STC), Singapore (StarHub), Japan (NTT Docomo), Bahrain (Zain), Saudi Arabia (STC, Zain and Mobily), China (China Mobile and China Unicom), Vietnam (Viettel), United Arab Emirates (Etisalat and du), Taiwan (Chungwa, FarEasTone, and T-Star) and South Korea (KT Corp.).
Smart said customers overseas can visit roam.smart.com.ph or download the GigaLife App to discover and subscribe to available roaming plans in these countries.
In the country, Smart’s 5G network is present in more than 4,000 sites.