The country’s two largest telecommunication companies are cashing in on Pokemon Go craze as they seek to stimulate mobile data usage amid a stagnant growth in traditional revenue sources.
Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. began offering free 30-day access to Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game app launched in the Philippines on Aug. 6.
Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc., said Pokemon Go would have a “positive impact” on the topline of Smart and Globe.
“Definitely, Pokemon Go is net positive for the telco players. It’s a revenue driver. We expect a sudden surge of data traffic, “ Del Castillo added.
“Since these offers are free of data charges, Pokemon Go usage won’t have an immediate impact on ARPU [average revenue per user] and on data revenues,” Smart spokesperson Ramon Isberto told Manila Standard.
Smart’s prepaid ARPU stood at P106 in the second quarter, down from P114 last year, while postpaid ARPU also went down to P1,018 from P1,065.
“The idea is to remove barriers to entry, and encourage as many of our subscribers to try it out as the game sweeps the world. What we do expect is that people’s enthusiasm for Pokemon Go will stimulate mobile data usage in general. This should eventually help drive data traffic and data revenues up,” Isberto said.
Smart’s mobile data usage rose 17 percent in the first half, which translated into a 55-percent growth in revenues amounting to P8.1 billion.
Globe spokesperson Yolanda Crisanto agreed with Isberto, saying that Pokemon Go could boost mobile data usage of its subscribers.
“Though we expect data usage to increase due to the phenomenon of Pokemon Go with potential revenues from additional data use and in app purchases, this is not however immediate since we are giving our customers free access via Globe Switch,” Crisanto said.
Globe’s data traffic arose 35 percent to 151 petabytes as of end-June from 112 petabytes a year ago, amid continuing increase in customer demand for bandwidth.
Globe’s mobile data revenues hit P17.8 billion in the first half, a 46-percent increase from P12.1 billion a year earlier.