MVP Announces FREE INTERNET for Smart, Sun Cellular and Talk ‘N Text Prepaid!

The much awaited announcement by Manny V. Pangilinan made at the Makati Shangrila Hotel, September 26, 2014. It wasn’t about running for public office but the announcement is for an advocacy and promo they want to give more to people - Smart, Sun Cellular and Talk ‘N Text Prepaid subscribers.

In an unprecedented move, wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) together with Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular today announced that they will start providing free Internet access to its prepaid subscriber base via their mobile phones.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, (MVP) chairman of Smart and its parent company PLDT has announced that all subscribers of Smart Prepaid, Sun Prepaid and Talk ‘N Text will be able to use mobile internet for free. He said that these subscribers can post status on Facebook, upload photos on Instagram, listen to streaming music on Spinnr, shopping on Lazada or Zalora, and of course browse your favorite websites.

"We are launching this initiative to provide a much larger number of Filipinos the opportunity to try out and experience the Internet, enjoy its benefits and, as we at Smart like to say, live more," MVP said.

“This special offer is specifically designed to assist our prepaid subscribers who make up the bulk of our population. Many of them have the mobile devices capable of accessing the Internet but have yet to use them to go online,” said MVP.

Through this special offer, all of the 66 million Smart Prepaid, Talk ‘N Text, and Sun Cellular Prepaid subscribers can use their data-enabled cellphones to browse through and post on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, visit their favorites websites, search on Google and Wikipedia, use navigation tools like Waze and Google Maps, book a cab or limo service via Easy Taxi and Uber, or use traffic info sites such as the MMDA's and InterAksyon's.

They can also send and receive emails, read their favorite blogs or update their own blogs, listen to songs via Smart’s Spinnr music service, shop via online stores like Zalora, Lazada, book their travel details through sites like Skyscanner and Expedia, among other things – all without incurring data charges.

Orlando B. Vea, Smart's chief wireless advisor said, "This special offer is in line with our advocacy of 'Internet for All'."

"It complements the affordable mobile Internet packages that Smart has been introducing over the past year. Among the latest of such innovations are PowerApp and PisoNet service which provides 10 minutes of mobile Internet access for one peso."

They’re encouraging prepaid subscribers to go online and experience mobile internet life without having to pay and subscribe for special prepaid data promos.

To avail of this promo, subscribers must:

**  have an available airtime balance of at least PhP 1 or is subscribed to any load bucket or promo

** register each day by sending "FREE" to "9999" (registration is free)

An SMS confirmation will be received upon successful registration.

Once registered, subscribers can enjoy free data of up to 30MB per day. However, data charges apply to peer-to-peer uploads and download, VOIP, and messaging.

Smart, Sun and Talk ‘N Text prepaid subscribers can start using their free mobile data starting today with at least 1 peso in their prepaid balance. Though The Big Boss of PLDT, MVP mentioned and encouraged that mobile browsing and app usage that requires internet connectivity can be used with their free mobile data, accessing streaming videos like YouTube and torrent downloading are not allowed. A paywall would appear and will advise the user to top-up their credits to access those features. “Free” here means no data charges, not unlimited bandwidth.

Smart, Sun Cellular, or Talk ‘n Text prepaid SIM on a data-enabled mobile device, you can enjoy up to 30mb of FREE mobile Internet per day for two months. Subscribers can access the internet either through data-capable feature phones or smartphones running on Android, iOS and Windows operating systems. 

The promo is good up to November 30, 2014.

This move complements Smart’s other affordable Internet access innovations, such as PisoNet, which gives users 10 minutes of mobile Internet access for one peso.

Unrivaled network

Smart’s free mobile Internet offer follows the telco leader’s recent announcement that it has stepped up the deployment of its mobile internet network, to meet the growing demand for mobile data services.

Smart recently reported a 73% hike in mobile data traffic, as smartphone prices continue to fall and innovative services like SmartNet and PisoNet allow more and more Filipinos to gain access to the Internet via their mobile phones.

“The strength and resiliency of our mobile data infrastructure enable us to make this special free internet offer available to our prepaid subscribers. Moreover, we continue to expand the reach of our network so that we can bring the internet to more communities all over the country,” said Napoleon L. Nazareno, president and CEO of Smart and PLDT.

The PLDT Group has thus far rolled out about 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables all over the country which provides the transmission facilities needed to support internet services. It has also the most extensive international cable systems needed to connect the Philippines to the rest of the world.