Earlier this week Smart Telco CEO Manny V. Pangilinan teased the public with a message that he will be making a special announcement on September 26, 2014.
Many speculated that the businessman will be making a political statement as he has been tagged as a candidate for vice president come 2016. However Pangilinan tweets another message that his special announcement is not about politics.
"@iamMVP Mga Kapatid, with my colleagues, I will make a very important announcement this Friday, Sept 26, 11 am, Makati Shang Hotel. See you then."These are the actual tweets that he sent to his followers.
"@iamMVP Luchi, I can only tell you what it's not about - it's not about politics."
Free Internet to Prepaid Subscribers
In a surprising move, Pangilinan offers free internet to Smart, Talk N' Text and Suncellular subscribers. Pangilinan states that almost 90% of his telco subscribers are prepaid. He further added that only 30% of smartphone users browse the internet. His move aims to democratize internet data and open up users to the world wide web.
Registering to #SmartFreeInternet
To register for free internet, just text FREE to 2999. Just be sure that there is a 1 peso balance in your sim card in order
to browse the internet. Pangilinan assures that his network can handle the increase in volume and usage. The said service is not available for prepair roaming subscribers.
to browse the internet. Pangilinan assures that his network can handle the increase in volume and usage. The said service is not available for prepair roaming subscribers.
It's Not Unlimited Internet
Unfortunately, the service is not unlimited. The subscriber gets approximately 30 megabytes of data which is good enough for 30 emails or approximately 50 to 60 facebook status post. It's to be noted that most smartphones capture images with file sizes at 1mb to 3mb so selfie uploads will be limited. The subscriber also needs to register every day to avail of the service.
The free internet does not include the following:
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| Using any Smart/TNT/Suncell prepaid sim Just text FREE to 2999 |
- Downloads
- Youtube and video streaming
- VOIP or internet calls from Viber, Facebook Messenger and other similar apps
- Free messaging such as Line, Kakaotalk, Whatsapp
- Torrents or peer to peer sharing
Basically the user is only able to browse the internet using the allocated daily data allowance. Once you've used up the data allowance, you'll be given a message if you want to continue browsing using standard data rates or register through data packages of Smart.
Currently the service run up to November 30, 2014 but Pangilinan hints that he might extend the service.
Similarities to Free FB Globe Telco
Late last year Globe Telco released free internet to their subscribers. Their users were able to browse Facebook for free and even use Facebook Messenger to send messages. What made Globe's offer attractive was the seemingly unlimited FB browsing and selfie uploads (some users reported a 100mb daily limit) however the service was only limited to facebook. Smart free internet allows user to browse any website using the data allocation.
Pangilinan has yet to state if he is offering the same free internet to Smart postpaid users who are not subscribed to any internet data packages.
Source: yahoo.com
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