Cell phone subscribers in RP to hit 45M this year

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said Sunday the May elections and the rosy Philippine economic outlook this year will help boost mobile phone subscriber growth. Edgardo Cabarios, director NTC's Common Carriers Authorization Division said, the regulator projected an additional five million subscribers for a total of 45 million this year. He, however, said that the growth might not be faster than last year, which grew about 15 percent. Data from Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom showed that the number of subscribers reached about 40 million last year from 34.78 million in 2005. Smart and Pilipino Telephone Corp has a total of 24.2 million subscribers, while Globe and Touch Mobile subscribers stood at 15.7 million. The NTC official attributed the growth to the aggressive marketing strategy of telecom companies and better economic prospects because of the rising remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The government projected that the economy could grow between 6.1 percent and 6.7 percent owing to OFW remittances, strong exports and government infrastructure spending. "As the economy grows, more people can afford to buy cell phones," Cabarios told reporters over the weekend. In addition, the election in May will increase subscriber growth "artificially," he said. Cabarios explained that politicians could buy more SIM cards to reach a large number of voters to advertise their candidacy. Earlier, the regulator said that politicians can campaign through text as long as they comply with the NTC's regulation on spam text. The increase in subscribers’ growth means higher revenue from telecom companies. Last year, Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co. and Globe Telecom Inc. posted combined profits of P46.9 billion last year. PLDT net income reached P35.1 billion and Globe, P11.8 billion. - GMANews.TV