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Tag: globe

  • Globe Q1 profit grows 44%

    Globe Q1 profit grows 44%

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has reported a 44% year-on-year increase in net profit for the first three months of 2019 to 6.7 billion pesos ($129.1 million), partly as a result of strong data revenue growth.

    The company reported revenue for the quarter of 36 billion pesos, up 13% year-on-year. Growth was mainly fueled by increasing data usage across the operator’s service offerings.

    Mobile revenue grew 11% to 27 billion pesos, with mobile data revenues reaching 16.5 billion pesos, representing 61% of gross service revenues. Total mobile data traffic surged to 370 petabytes for the quarter.

    But mobile voice revenues fell 15% to 6.3 billion pesos, with SMS revenues down 22% to 4.2 billion pesos.

    Globe’s home broadband business reported 21% higher revenue of 5.2 billion pesos, with the company’s total subscriber base increasing 22% year-on-year to 1.7 million. Of these, 63% are fixed wireless subscribers. Enterprise data revenues grew 16% year-on-year to 2.7 billion pesos.

    Globe’s capex for the quarter reached 8.8 billion pesos, representing 24% of topline revenues.

    “As we continue to invest in our LTE network, we are also excited with the growth opportunities of our 5G commercial pilot launch in June this year,” Globe CEO Ernest Cu commented.

    “Through this launch, we will be able to offer our customers a whole new ecosystem of devices to enhance the way they experience data to the home. This is in line with our proven strategy of making our customers a priority, by providing them a superior digital and network experience, despite all the industry challenges that we face ahead.”

     

  • Globe extends GoWiFi service to over 2,000 sites

    Globe extends GoWiFi service to over 2,000 sites

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has announced it has expanded its GoWiFi public WiFi service to more than 2,000 sites across the country.

    The operator is now providing over 20,000 access points nationwide, up from 15,000 in 2018, and the network is hosting 18 million sessions per month, Globe said.

    During the year, Globe plans to further expand the network to cover more health clinics and hospitals, colleges and universities, and retail establishments.

    The service is also currently available at major transit points including the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), as well as Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations.

    Globe provides a free GoWiFi service with a maximum allocation, as well as a paid service than can be used to extend usage beyond the free allocation.

    Both services are available to all users with WiFi-enabled devices and select international numbers, and provide speeds of up to 100Mbps depending on location.

  • Singtel extends VIA mobile wallet alliance

    Singtel extends VIA mobile wallet alliance

    Singtel has announced a further expansion of its emerging cross-border mobile payment alliance via an arrangement with Singapore Changi Airport.

    Subscribers to Thailand’s AIS will soon be able to use their AIS GLOBAL Pay mobile wallets to make payments across all four Changi Airport terminals in their home currency.

    AIS, one of Singtel’s regional mobile affiliates, is the first international member of the VIA Alliance, which launched in October. Other member mobile wallets to be added later this year include K Plus from Thailand’s Kasikorbank and Axiata Digital’s Boost Malaysia.

    Singtel also recently arranged to allow users of mobile wallets within the VIA Alliance to make payments in Japan through a partnership with Tokyo-based NETSTARS.

    Singtel plans to progressively expand the VIA alliance to include its other regional associates Airtel in India, Globe in the Philippines, Telkomsel in Indonesia, as well as more non-operator entities.

    “With Singapore welcoming over half a million visitors from Thailand every year, we are excited to enhance the retail experience for them with the ease, familiarity and convenience of seamless transactions,” Singtel International VP of business Soon Sze Meng said.

    “Having the many merchants in Changi Airport on board VIA will enable Thai travelers to enjoy a wide range of cashless dining and retail options from the moment they touch down, while these merchants will capture new customers and revenue.”

  • Globe opens its first Esports Center

    Globe opens its first Esports Center

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has announced the launch of its first Esports Center, aimed at supporting various local esports communities.

    The Esports Center at Play Nation in the UP Town Center in Quezon City will offer various initiatives including esports competitions, as well as support helping gamers create live streaming content and interact with other members of different esports communities.

    Globe SVP and head of content business group Nikko Acosta said the facility will help Globe’s Games and Esports division achieve one of its key goals of strengthening support for esports in the Philippines in cooperation with various fan communities.

    “We want to bring together different communities of popular games like Arena of Valor, Rules of Survival, League of Legends, and Tekken – among others – in one venue to upgrade their knowledge and gauge their skill levels with others through peer learning of new strategies and techniques,” he said.

    “We are positioning esports as a real sport, to make a gamer into a real athlete harnessing both physical and mental attributes by playing it right,” Acosta added, mentioning the company’s #PlayItRight advocacy campaign, which seeks to emphasize the importance of discipline, nutrition, physical wellness, and cognitive development in esports.

  • NTC extends migration date to eight-digit landline numbers

    NTC extends migration date to eight-digit landline numbers

    The Philippines’ National Telecommunications Commission has extended the migration to eight digit landline numbers in the Greater Metro Manila area by six months, at the request of the banking industry.

    The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) and the Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP) have requested more time to prepare for the introduction of eight digit landline numbers by implementing the necessary changes to their operations and systems.

    As a result, the NTC has ordered local operators to extend the migration date to October 6 from March 18.

    Both Globe Telecom and PLDT have announced they will comply with the demand and informed customers of the delay.

    Globe Telecom has stated that until January 5, customers still incorrectly dialing an old 7-digit number will hear a special announcement stating that the format has been changed to 8 digits.

    The company has also pledged to continue remaining customers of the upcoming migration over all available channels – including SMS, email and social media – up to the deadline.

    “We will make the necessary adjustments when it comes to our internal systems and communication efforts to ensure smooth service continuity for all of our affected customers,” Globe general counsel Froilan Castelo said.

    “Our teams are continuously working closely with the NTC and other telcos to assist affected customers before, during, and after the migration.”

  • Globe interconnects with DE-CIX

    Globe interconnects with DE-CIX

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has enhanced its peering capacity in Europe through a new agreement with Deutscher Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX). DE-CIX is the world’s largest internet exchange point with a peak traffic of over 6.4Tbps. Globe has peered at the company in Germany via its location in Frankfurt. The carrier neutral DE-CIX exchange interconnects more than 800 member networks, and provides peering and interconnection services to over 1,500 network operators, ISPs and content providers from more than 100 countries.

    The company offers peering and interconnection services from 13 locations in India, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

    “This initiative will further complement existing infrastructure and enable users direct access to European content. At the same time, it functions as alternate internet gateways to the Philippines from that region as the internet is two-way,” Globe CTO Gil Genio said.

    “Improvements may also be observed in reaching networks that are part of the exchanges as the set-up will avoid the traditional via US traverse.”

    He said Globe Telecom now has connections to 23 internet exchange providers worldwide.

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  • Globe gets nod to roll out small cells in Metro Manila

    Globe gets nod to roll out small cells in Metro Manila

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has arranged special dispensation from the authorities in Metro Manila to allow it to expedite the deployment of over 120 cell sites to improve coverage of the major thoroughfares of Metro Manila.

    The operator has entered a groundbreaking agreement with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) that will allow it to install small cell antennas along the thoroughfares without needing to secure individual construction permits.

    The regular approval process involves an average of 25 permits from local government units and takes around eight months to complete, according to Globe CEO Ernest Cu.

    “Securing various permits for the construction of telco infrastructure such as cell sites has long been a major challenge of the industry,” he said.

    “We want to thank MMDA for sharing our vision of a connected Philippines by allowing us to deploy sites faster, thus improving mobile experience at the heart of Metro Manila.”

    As part of the agreement, Globe has also agreed to provide logistical support for the MMDA’s critical traffic management operations. The operator deployed wireless infrastructure at the MMDA’s flood control facilities in 2016, and that year also started providing free Wi-Fi service at MRT stations in the city.

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  • Globe commissions pre-fab data center

    Globe commissions pre-fab data center

    Prefabricated data center provider Flexenclosure has secured a multi-million dollar order to build a facility for the Philippines’ Globe Telecom.

    Flexenclosure will provide its eCentre modular prefabicated data center product to the operator for deployment on the island of Mindanao.

    The data center will be assembled and tested at Flexenclosure’s manufacturing plant in Sweden before being shipped to the Philippines for on-site construction. It is expected to be fully operational by early in the third quarter.

    The company is delivering the contract in partnership with Manila-based system integrator Orissa Wicomm.

    Globe CTO and chief strategy officer Gil Genio said the company plans to use its new data center to support its efforts to ramp up capacity and provide innovative new services for its customers in the broadband, enterprise and consumer segments.

    “We are committed to delivering market-leading services to our customers; on the network infrastructure side, this means flexible, modular and low cost,” he said.

    “Our new data center in Mindanao… employs this modular architecture that allows us to rapidly add infrastructure with growth.”

    The deal marks Flexenclosure’s first project in the Philippines but is the latest in a line of recent wins in Asia-Pacific, which included projects in Australia, Palau, Samoa, Fiji and Myanmar announced last year.

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  • Globe expanding LTE network amid growing demand

    Globe expanding LTE network amid growing demand

    The Philippines’ Globe Teleom expects to be generating around half of its mobile data traffic from LTE by the end of the year.

    The operator plans to deploy 600 more LTE cell sites by this time to cater to growing demand, taking its total network of sites up to nearly 5,600.

    Currently around 43% of Globe’s data traffic comes from its LTE network, which operates on the 700-MHz, 1800-MHz and 2600-MHz bands.

    Total mobile data traffic for the first six months of the year climbed 85% year-on-year to 280 petabytes as smartphone penetration increased to around two thirds of the opeartor’s total mobile subscribers, Globe’s latest statistics indicate.

    Globe has been concentrating its LTE rollout on Metro Manila and other densely populated areas.

    But a significant number of its customers are still using 3G SIMs with LTE devices or vice versa, so the operator is encouraging customers to upgrade for a superior experience. Since January the company has migrated around 900,000 customers using LTE devices onto LTE SIMs.

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  • Globe Telecom taps Cloudera to harness machine learning

    Globe Telecom taps Cloudera to harness machine learning

    Globe Telecom in the Philippines has deployed the Cloudera platform to enhance customer experience and deliver real-time targeted marketing campaigns and offers to its 60 million customers.

    Globe Telecom is using machine learning with Cloudera to enrich customer experiences across channels and deliver targeted and optimized products and services, while maintaining compliance with the latest industry data regulations.

    The operator’s mobile data traffic grew 85% from 151 petabytes (PB) in 2016 to 280 PB this year. Mobile data is a growing and significant contributor to total mobile revenues for the first half of 2017 versus the similar period a year ago.

    “To sustain our growth, we are always looking for ways to improve customer experiences across our channels and touchpoints,” said Gil Genio, chief technology and information officer at Globe Telecom.  “Our ability to strategically manage and monetize information about our customers will enable us to deliver value-added products and further differentiate ourselves in today’s competitive business landscape.”

    With Cloudera Enterprise now at the core of Globe Telecom’s data management architecture, the increasing volumes of data are ingested from different sources and channels into a centralized data hub and made available to all employees across the organization with full fidelity and security.

    Mark Micallef, regional VP for Asia Pacific and Japan at Cloudera, said Globe Telecom can now use data to gain valuable insights, make accurate business decisions faster and deliver targeted marketing campaigns and offers to enhance their customer’s experience.

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  • Globe Hong Kong launches ‘cabin’ in Sheung Wan

    Globe Hong Kong launches ‘cabin’ in Sheung Wan

    Skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen signed autographs for five hours when shoes, apparel, skateboards and accessories retailer Globe Hong Kong opened a “cabin” store in Sheung Wan.

    Globe CEO Matt Hill and founder Peter Hill came from the US to attend the launch.

    “The feel of a Globe cabin store is more important to us than just the look of the store,” says Peter Hill. “Boardsports is a culture with a huge emotional content.”

    The design of a Globe cabin pays homage to the Roycroft arts and crafts movement founded by Elbert Hubbard in New York in the 19th century. His philosophy was to make consumer products with craft and purpose that delivered an emotional connection to the lifestyle purchasers valued.

    “Hong Kong’s energy, sense of adventure and history as a place to step out and explore from makes it a natural choice for the Globe cabin,” says Peter Hill. “The store retains its original Hong Kong tiled floors – sadly disappearing – and meshes with the oak arts-and-crafts style from other Globe cabin stores with their Anglo influence.”

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  • Globe’s GCash debuts QR code payments

    Globe’s GCash debuts QR code payments

    Globe Telecom’s GCash has launched the Philippines’ first QR code payment service, which it has named GoPay.

    The GoPay feature within the GCash mobile money app will allow customers to use their GCash account to pay for goods and services using their smartphones by scanning QR codes displayed by merchants.

    The service will enable merchants to accept mobile payments using their own GCash wallets, eliminating the need for eftpos machines. GCash said this will make mobile payment acceptance available even to roaming vendors and small neighborhood stores.

    Alibaba’s Ant Financial, which popularized QR code payments in China via its Alipay subsidiary, invested in GCash’s immediate parent company Mynt in February to help develop the Philippines’ digital money market.

    “Our goal has always been to make finance more inclusive by building a cashless ecosystem. GoPay QR payments solution will close the loop and drive merchants accepting GCash payments,” Mynt CEO and President John Rubio said.

    “We plan to extend this service from all types of retailers nationwide down to our favorite fishball vendor.”

    GCash is available for both Android and iOS, and users can deposit funds into their GCash wallet at over 12,000 partner outlets across the Philippines.

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  • Global telecoms revenues to grow 2% in 2017

    Global telecoms revenues to grow 2% in 2017

    Worldwide IT spending is expected to increase by 4.5% in 2017 in constant currency terms, a significant improvement on last year’s growth of 2.5%, according to IDC.

    The latest addition of the research firm’s  Worldwide Black Book forecasts that total IT spending this year will reach $2.1 trillion and is forecast to increase by another 4% in 2018 as positive momentum continues into next year.

    Including telecom services, which will increase by just over 2% in constant currency terms this year, the overall ICT market will reach $3.5 trillion in 2017.

    Growth is being driven by stronger upgrade cycles for infrastructure and mobile devices.

    APeJ will post the strongest regional growth in IT spending this year, IDC predicts, with the company projecting an 8% increase in constant currency terms.

    China and India are both expected to post overall IT spending growth of 10% in constant currency terms this year, although China is likely to see a moderating pace of growth in the next few years as the economy begins to slow.

    The strongest growth this year will come from infrastructure hardware, enterprise software, and mobile devices. With cloud service providers expected to accelerate their datacenter investments in order to keep pace with growing demand for cloud services, total server spending will increase by 4% this year and 5% in 2018.

    Smartphone sales will improve compared to 2016

    Last year saw a significant slowdown in the smartphone market, as increasing maturity and price competition affected many markets. Stronger growth is expected in the second half of 2017, as premium vendors launch significant new products while smartphone penetration and value continues to grow steadily in key emerging markets including China.

    Overall smartphone spending will increase by 7% this year to $439 billion, a big improvement on last year’s 1% growth.

    “Cloud and mobile are still the big drivers for IT spending, despite the attention devoted to new technologies like augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics,” IDC VP for customer insights and analysis Stephen Minton said.

    “New technologies will drive a larger share of market growth in the next 5-10 years, but the short term will also see a resurgence of growth in markets tied to 3rd Platform opportunities, including cloud services, mobility and big data.”

  • Davao gains first Globe Telecom Gen3 store

    Davao gains first Globe Telecom Gen3 store

    Globe Telecom has opened its first Gen3 store for Davao City, at Gaisano Mall of Davao.

    It is described as “a new retail experience” by Irra Zarina Escandor, who owns GMI Global Ventures, the first Gen3 store owner in Davao City.

    Gmall Globe Gen3 store retail manager Ace Cabana says customers will experience lifestyle vignettes designed to catch attention. There will not be any queues as a tablet will be used to help customers.

    Cabana says the topography of the store is reconfigurable and interactive. Globe products and services will be showcased within different zones featuring video-on-demand providers, music providers, plan packages and gadgets.

    Designed by Tim Kobe, founder/CEO of Eight and designer of Apple Stores and Nike pop-ups, the Gen3 stores were first launched simultaneously in Mindanao’s Limketkai Mall in Cagayan de Oro City, and at SM North Edsa in Quezon City.

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  • Globe commences Massive MIMO rollout

    Globe commences Massive MIMO rollout

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has commenced the commercial deployment of massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology to improve the mobile connectivity experience in dense urban areas.

    The commercial deployment follows initial testing of the technology in the Makati financial district of Metro Manila. The testing demonstrated the ability of the technology to improve capacity up to six times compared to a regular site.

    Globe’s initial rollout will cover 150 cell sites, mostly in Southern Luzon and Northern Luzon, according to Joel Agustin, SVP for program governance at the operator’s Network Technical Group.

    “The use of massive MIMO technology is an important component of our goal to stay ahead of the demand curve for data capacity in densely populated and high-foot traffic areas,”  he said.

    Globe this month also became the first operator in the world to activate massive MIMO using two-carrier aggregation, the company said.

    The deployment makes use of Globe’s 2.6-GHz spectrum holdings. Globe acquired additional 2.6-GHz spectrum from last year’s joint purchase of San Miguel’s telecoms assets with rival PLDT.

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