Smart expands mobile wallet coverage

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co.’s Smart Communications is stepping up its e-commerce footprint as it announced that mobile wallet Smart Money can be tapped by subscribers to purchase App Store and iTunes content and pay for Apple Music subscription.

The service is open to both post-paid and prepaid subscribers and would partly address the large portion of the country’s population without bank accounts and credit cards. Smart said those limitations proved “a barrier for many Filipino users in maximizing their Apple devices.”

“With Smart Money, Smart is in the best position to deliver Apple content in the Philippines, allowing mobile users to sidestep the often tedious and stringent process of getting a credit card just to be able to maximize their mobile devices,” Ariel Fermin, executive vice president and consumer business group head at Smart, said in a statement.

Applications can be started by texting MONEY to 343, then further completed by filling out an online form. Smart subscribers may also apply for a Smart Money account at any Smart Store with just one valid ID—no financial documents required, the company said.