PLDT to hike investment in iflix

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. is considering jacking up its investment in Internet television company iflix, which is seeking to expand to other countries in the region, to Africa and the Middle East by 2016.

PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan said the telco would “most likely” add on to the $15 million it poured into iflix to bankroll its launch in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

“We will organize a group capital fund that will take care of that incremental investment,” Pangilinan said, adding that the investment, which formed part of PLDT’s strategy to offer more digital services, had yet to be finalized.

Iflix, which provides a service similar to United States-based Netflix, has been increasing its subscriber footprint in the region as it hit 1.1 million subscribers, said Patrick Grove, CEO and co-founder of Catcha Group, a founding investor in iflix.

Iflix has about 570,000 subscribers in the Philippines, he said.

Grove said iflix planned to expand to Vietnam and Indonesia by early 2016 and later in the year, to the Middle East and possibly Africa.

iflix is supported in the Philippines via its partnership with PLDT unit Smart Communications. On Monday, the group announced a new promo to drive up usage. Iflix said starting mid-December this year, all 70 million Smart and PLDT Home customers will get free subscriptions for a limited period.

All Smart, Sun and TNT subscribers will receive a free three-month iflix subscription bundled with their existing service. PLDT Home subscribers will get 12 months of iflix at “no additional charge.”

Subscription, priced at P129 a month, allows users to unlimited access to the service.