Smart postpaid revenues up 16%

SMART Communications, the flagship mobile unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., reported gains in its postpaid business after bagging more subscribers and boosting revenue.

Smart said in a statement that its postpaid subscriber count jumped 25 percent to end the first quarter of 2016 with 1.6 million postpaid accounts. That bolstered post paid revenues by 16 percent to P4.3 billion. The bulk of accounts for all telcos in the country were still in pre-paid.

Smart and PLDT executive vice president and head of consumer business Ariel Fermin said the increase was driven by their new device offerings, improved customer experience and fresh partnerships in the digital space.

Smart noted that it achieved all-time high iPhone sales in the first quarter, with sales volume up by 60 percent year-on-year.

Also driving postpaid growth was the breadth of video and digital content made available by Smart’s partnerships with the world’s content leaders, including a recent tie-up for the Batman v Superman film.

Smart also partnered with global ride-sharing giant Uber to provide its passengers with free in-car Smart WiFi. This partnership was considered the first in Southeast Asia.

Fermin added that Smart’s postpaid growth signaled that efforts to improve their customer service were paying off.

“We are happy that Filipinos trust us to fulfill their various mobile needs. We value this trust and we are continuously improving our network so our customers would truly live digital,” he said in the statement.