Globe Telecom’s free Facebook
offer helped drive the company’s subscriber uptake and surged user engagement
to get into mobile browsing for free. The offer also doubled mobile browsing
adoption among the company’s customers.
At the end of 2013, Globe
subscribers have reached a fresh record 38.5 million, a 16% rise from 33.1
million subscribers at the end of 2012. Most notable is that fourth quarter
gross subscriber acquisitions registered a quarterly high of 8.8 million
subscribers, a 19% jump from the previous quarter, steered by record
acquisitions of the company's prepaid (Globe Prepaid) and TM brands. Combined,
Prepaid and TM gross acquisitions accounted for 98% of acquired SIMs during the
period, driven by market relevant promotions during the quarter, notably the
Free Facebook campaign. Despite a slight increase in churn rate of 5.9% from
5.7% in 2012, full-year net incremental subscribers soared 74% to 5.36 million
from 3.08 million in 2012.
Globe launched in November last
year an exclusive and groundbreaking partnership with Facebook allowing its
subscribers to have free access to the social networking site using the Globe
data network. The company shared its technological capabilities and modernized
network infrastructure to drive the ambitious commercial offer, which was aimed
at increasing mobile browsing adoption in the country.
"By providing free access to
Facebook, many of our subscribers have realized the benefits of mobile internet
connectivity which helped sustain continued growth in subscriber
acquisitions," Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu said, adding that the
offer also more than doubled mobile internet adoption among Globe customers.
Aside from its collaboration with Facebook, Globe has also partnered with
popular message applications such as Viber, Facebook Messenger, Kakao Talk,
WeChat, Whatsapp and Line, allowing many of its subscribers to communicate
through mobile data services and providing alternatives to traditional
telephony services.
The collaboration with Facebook
brought together first-of-its-kind customer experience innovations such as
availability in all Facebook mobile platforms, advice of charge notifications,
one-click to purchase data plans & data access lending to access links
outside Facebook. The free Facebook offer started in October and ends on April
30.
