Nokia, together with its partners Ayala Foundation, Globe Telecom, and SEAMEO-Innotech and the local government of Isabela led by Governor Padaca recently reached out to 20 public elementary schools in Isabela and provided them with highly interactive, easy-to-use multimedia packages through its Text2Teach program.
Text2Teach is a private sector-led program that utilizes mobile technology for education. Since 2003, over 700,000 students and 1,300 teachers in more than 200 schools all over the Philippines have benefited from this program. The province of Isabela is the first recipient of the project’s second phase of implementation.
The program also includes elements such as lesson plans, teacher’s guide books, and teacher training done by SEAMEO-Innotech with Ayala Foundation and DepEd to ensure the high quality and standard of using Text2Teach. Before it was to be implemented in Iligan, more than 120 school heads, teachers, and supervisors attended the training.
THE Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Bayan Telecommunications Inc. last week filed separate complaints against Globe Telecom before the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard) for allegedly making false claims about its new wireless landline offering marketed as Globe Duo.
PLDT head and first vice president for regulatory strategy and support Alfredo Carrera said in an interview that the marketing unit of the phone giant complained before the umbrella organization of the advertising industry about Globe’s new wireless landline offering.
“It’s our marketing unit that knows about this. All I know is that there was a complaint with the AdBoard about Globe’s misleading ads on its Globe Duo product,” said Carrera.
The PLDT official did not elaborate. But according to sources from PLDT and from Bayan, the two were supposed to file a complaint before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) but instead had to go to the AdBoard first, pending further review of a possible violation of NTC rules on discriminatory pricing.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Friday approved Globe Telecom Inc.’s mobile internet plans, allowing the country’s second-largest phone firm to offer mobile internet service to its postpaid subscribers permanently.
Under Globe’s mobile surfing plans, the company offered monthly subscriptions starting from P149, which provides 10 hours of mobile internet service, P399 (30 hours), and P799 (60 hours).
Globe has also provided postpaid plans for users of the BlackBerry smartphone starting from P700 for 5 megabytes of data usage, P850 (8 MB), and P1100 (10 MB).
GOKONGWEI-LED Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. (Digitel) has reported a 36.5% growth in revenues, citing its increasing subscriber base, but said net losses still reached almost P2 billion in 2008.
The second-largest provider of landlines in the country said sales went up by P3.04 billion to P11.35 billion from 2007’s P8.31 billion.
Digitel attributed the surge to a wider subscriber base, more significantly in its prepaid segment, which got a boost in revenues from unlimited texting and call fees, international roaming, and “value-added” services.
Costs and operating expenses, meanwhile, were 9.8% lower than the previous year.
Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, Inc. are launching BlackBerry Storm, the world’s first “clickable” touch-screen smartphone, for both corporate and individual customers, within a month of each other. Globe is making available its BlackBerry Storm units next month (May), while Smart is expected to the same this June. Significantly, the country’s two biggest cellular mobile telephone service providers are now targeting not just business clients, the traditional users of Blackberry, but private individuals as well. “The BlackBerry Storm is a perfect tool for both business and personal use,” says Nerisse Ramos, PLDT first vice president and head, Corporate Business Group (CBG). “We see a growing demand for BlackBerry smartphones among both small businesses and individual customers,” Kat Luna-Abelarde, Vice President and Head, Small and Medium Enterprise Group (SMEG) added.
MANILA, Philippines – The government will have power to fix the rates and tariffs of texting and other telecommunications services once a bill in the House of Representatives is passed into law.
House Bill 5882 seeks to promote effective competition in the telecommunications industry, which author Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. (Cavite) said is not prevailing at present.
“Notwithstanding the so-called free competition, it cannot be determined whether prices are close to costs, whether consumers are being supplied with the best products in terms of pricing, or whether the telecommunication companies are getting fair and reasonable rates,” Barzaga said in an article on the House of Representatives Web site.
MANILA, Philippines — The Ayala-led Globe Telecom obtained a fresh $50-million loan from foreign bank Export Development Canada in support of capital spending in 2009.
“Proceeds of the loan will be used to fund capital expenditure purchases from Nokia Siemens Networks,” Globe Telecoms head of planning and analysis Aditas Santamaria said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Globe Telecoms recently upgraded its prepaid charging system to Nokia Siemens Networks’ prepaid solution in order to improve customer service, revenue generation and operational efficiency. With this upgrade, the company hopes to reduce hardware footprint and power consumption.
MANILA – Twenty-five outstanding locators in the country were recognized by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority for their significant contribution to economic growth and development, particularly in the creation of jobs.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the awarding of trophies to the winners during the 2009 PEZA Investors’ Recognition Day on Wednesday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
She was assisted by Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila and PEZA Director-General Lilia de Lima.
The Outstanding Exporters Awards were given to Sunpower Philippines Manufacturing Corp., American Power Conversion Corp. BV, Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp., Panasonic Communications Philippines Corp., Accenture Incorporated, and Convergy’s Philippines Services Corp.
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is providing P10 million representing training cost and Training/Income Support Fund to the Semiconductor and Electronic Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) to train 725 core employees, mostly technician and engineer scholars who are now on shortened work arrangements to help in the upgrading of their skills and competencies in the higher technologies of the semiconductor industry.
SEIPI, a non-profit industry which has the mandate to provide quality education and technical training to Filipinos using appropriate technologies especially in the semiconductor and electronics industry, agreed to work hand in hand with TESDA, to promote development, efficient allocation and utilization of the middle level manpower resources in the country.