MANILA, Philippines – Subscribers of Globe Telecom will be able to access social networking site Facebook for free on mobile phones until January.
The collaboration between Globe and Facebook was announced Monday night by Globe CEO and president Ernest Cu and Chris Daniels, vice president of partnerships at Facebook.
Cu said the partnership aims to break “barriers” that keep millions of Filipinos from accessing Facebook on their mobile phones, which include not having enough prepaid credits.
“Globe has solved all these problems because for an initial three months, Facebook will be free to users of Globe in the Philippines,” Cu said during the launch.
Globe and TM subscribers with smartphones and feature phones can access the Facebook app or m.facebook.com for free starting October 31, 2013 without the need for Wi-Fi or a data plan.
Aside from the free service, users who wish to access content outside Facebook will be notified if they will incur data charges. The user can avail of the one-click registration to a data plan to continue browsing.
Those without prepaid load can also access content outside Facebook by “loaning” P10 worth of load, which will be deducted on their next top-up.
The customer experience innovations eliminate billshock or “nakaw load.”
“What Globe is launching is not just free Facebook for three months, but we’re launching a customer experience that has been designed end-to-end trying to overcome key fears,” said Peter Bithos, Globe’s senior advisor for consumer business.
Daniels said there is a big opportunity in the Philippines, which currently ranks 8th in the world in Facebook users, with an estimated 30 million people owning accounts.
“Philippines to us creates an enormous opportunity to connect to more people. There are a hundred million people in the Philippines and only about 30 million of them access the internet every month, so we need to connect more people there,” said Daniels.
Daniels added that the partnership with Globe was forged to connect to its 36 million subscribers.
“We found in Globe a partner who is at the leading edge of innovative companies and is willing to make it happen and we are very excited to bring free Facebook to Globe’s 36 million customers in the Philippines,” he said.
There are over a billion Facebook users worldwide. In the third quarter of 2013, Facebook dominated social log-ins and was used more than other platforms like Google, Yahoo and Twitter.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
