[text from : The Manila Times, Philippines]
May 20--ONE of four companies earlier awarded a license to operate 3G (third-generation) technology said it would focus on mobile advertising to compete in the hotly contested telecom market.
Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise Inc. (CURE), ownership in which recently passed from the Ongpin family to a unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), on Monday unveiled the first advertising-funded mobile platform in Asia called umobile.
The service launch comes on the heels of PLDT unit Smart Communication Inc.'s acquisition of two Ongpin-led companies that own CURE for P419.54 million. PH Communications Holdings Corp. and Francom Holdings Inc. each hold a 96.57-percent and 3.43-percent stake, respectively, in CURE.
Introducing .... ümobile
Ardie Balderrama, CURE chief marketing officer said the ad-funded mobile phone service would mean that subscribers can avail of the company's services for FREE.
Balderrama said CURE will offer a subscriber free mobile calls, text messaging, Internet surfing, among others.
"The usage of our consumers will be subsidized by our advertisers," he said, adding that the company is in talks with five to 10 sponsoring firms.
Subscribers will earn load by watching commercials or clicking advertisements. The umobile will be rolled out to consumers by next month.
CURE's services include mobile broadband access to the Internet, the use of mobile voice over Internet protocol and live chat with Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo and AIM.
"We are not a traditional telecommunications company. We are a mobile marketing company that enhances the relationship between brands and consumers," Balderrama said.
"Through umobile, we offer advertisers the opportunity to tap into this emerging marketing medium where they can directly target the consumers they want to reach," he added.
The CURE executive said the company will focus on a niche market composed of men and women aged 15 to 35 years, who collectively comprise about 45 percent of the country's population.
"The power of advertising is now dominant. We believe that the mobile advertising market will grow further," Balderrama said.
In 2006, mobile advertising was a $871-million business worldwide.
According to ABI Research, mobile marketing and advertising is expected to reach $19 billion globally by 2011.
At present, most mobile advertising takes the form of text messages. But telecom companies have begun to offer ads to mobile phone handset owners through video clips, music and game downloads, among others.
CURE's move will put pressure on the traditional advertising platform such as television, radio, print and billboards.
Last year, the country's media spend amounted to P154.4 billion from the previous year's P143.54 billion.
Besides the corporate market, CURE may tap politicians who want to be advertised, Balderrama said.
"Umobile ensures advertisers will get a mobile campaign especially designed for the target market through its detailed subscriber database. Instead of a mass text to faceless subscribers, umobile will help develop customized mobile marketing campaigns with information from its customer profiles," he said.
The CURE executive said that umobile will run a 3G network and most of its products and services will harness the technology, but subscribers on a 2G and 2.5G network can still make use of basic model telephony services such as voice calls, sending and receiving SMS and MMS.
website : http://www.umobile.com.ph/
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