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SMART Broadband Inc. (SBI), a unit of Smart Communications Inc. said
on Thursday that it will offer portable wireless Internet broadband
services.
In a statement, SBI said it has come up with an
innovative gadget that will enable subscribers to easily link to the
worldwide Web using a device called a USB modem.
A USB modem can easily be plugged to a laptop or
a desktop computer, and users can access the Internet with speeds
ranging from 384 to 768 kilobytes per second (kbps).
“This takes Internet access to the next level.
With the portable USB modem, areas that previously could not avail
of broadband services will have instant Internet access, as long as
there is Smart network coverage. Through this, we will be able to
achieve our goal of connecting those in the remote provinces to the
rest of the world, thus, providing true mobility,” Rolando G. Peña,
SBI president, said.
Earlier, Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of Smart
parent, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), said that
more than 50 percent of the group’s revenues will come from its
nonvoice services starting next year.
“I think it is different 10 years ago when we
came in and that will continue where data broadband and Internet
will drive the future growth for revenues and profits,” he said.
At present, about 50 percent of the company’s
revenues is driven by nonvoice, data and broadband Internet.
The company’s subscriber base hit the 501,000
mark and total revenue contribution from broadband and Internet
services surged 43 percent to P5.3 billion for the first nine months
of the year.
At end-September, Smart BRO had over 259,000
users, adding about 138,000 new subscribers in the first nine months
of the year. Smart has 2,678 wireless broadband-enabled base
stations providing high-speed Internet access to over 625 cities and
municipalities nationwide.
PLDT, which is partly owned by Hong Kong’s
First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, said net income
stood at P9.51 billion in the third quarter, down by 9 percent
compared with the P10.44 billion in the same period last year.
For the period ending September, PLDT’s net
income inched up by 3 percent to P26.5 billion owing to lower
additional depreciation charges offset by an increase in provision
for taxes of P10 billion.
The company’s consolidated core net income
rose 13 percent to P26.2 billion during the period from last
year’s P23.2 billion.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
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