Press Release
Another world first innovation
Smart unveils international mobile phone-based remittance platform
Smart Services Hub to help banks and telcos work together to serve migrant workers worldwide
[February 13, 2007/ Barcelona, Spain] – Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider, announced Monday that it will soon launch pilot projects in the Middle East and Europe to offer low-cost remittance services using its mobile phone-based financial services platform.
Called the Smart Services Hub, the platform will enable mobile operators and banks to serve the remittance needs of migrant populations in their respective countries. Through the platform, migrant workers will be able to send remittances to their countries via SIM-based services anytime, anywhere -- all at the speed of a text message.
“This innovative service will give overseas workers, initially Filipinos, the power of choice. Using their mobile phones, they can send home money in the amounts they wish whenever they want and wherever they maybe at a more affordable cost,” said Napoleon L. Nazareno, SMART president and CEO in the Leadership Summit of the World 3GSMA Congress being held here.
“For our partner banks and operators, this will enable them to offer robust and secure mobile phone-based remittance services in a cost and time-efficient manner and thus allow them to serve the growing market of migrant workers,” he added.
Smart’s initiatives are part of the global money transfer program (GMMT) of the GSM Association. Supported by 19 of the world’s leading mobile operators, this program aims to create a money transfer solution that will take advantage of the pervasiveness of mobile phone networks worldwide in order to lower the cost of remittances.
Through the Smart Services Hub, mobile operators at the sending country can offer menu-based services that enable their migrant subscribers to use their mobile phones to remit funds drawn from accounts in a partner bank in the sending country.
The transaction goes through an authorization, clearing and settlement process that allows the funds to be deposited in an account in a partner bank in the receiving country or in an electronic wallet linked to the recipient’s mobile phone. Both the sender and recipient will be notified via a text message that the remittance transaction has been completed.
In the Middle East, Smart’s pilot is in the Gulf state of Bahrain which aims to initially serve Filipino overseas workers and their families. It is working with MTC Vodafone Bahrain of the MTC Group, one of the leading mobile phone groups in the region with over 24.9 million subscribers in the Middle East and Africa. Smart is also firming up a partnership with a leading regional bank based in Bahrain.
In Europe, Smart is pursuing a similar arrangement with a telco and a bank in Italy.
In cooperation with the GSM Association, Smart will also conduct a pilot with MasterCard as an authorization, clearing and settlement partner.
“We are confident that this initiative will give rise to viable businesses for all the parties involved. At the same time, we will deliver an innovative service that will help make life easier for migrant and overseas workers’ communities in many countries,” said Nazareno.
About 10 million Filipinos today live overseas in nearly 200 countries and territories. In 2006, they remitted $14 billion through official channels, not counting the several billions more being sent through informal means.
The GMMT was one of the key initiatives announced during the GSMA Leadership Summit held Monday. GSMA president Rob Conway said migrant populations could benefit enormously if pervasive mobile networks are tapped to deliver affordable and convenient remittance services. He added that this could raise the amount of remittances worldwide from about $250 billion to as high as one trillion dollars.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises; Board Member of the GSM Association and the board sponsor of the GMMT program said that mobile money transfers promises to be a “transformative service” that will uplift the lives of hundreds of millions of the world’s poor.
Since 2000, Smart has been actively promoting mobile commerce usage in the Philippines through various services that run on the Smart Money Platform. These services include the award-winning Smart Money, the world’s first electronic wallet card linked to a mobile phone which won the 2001 3GSM Award for “Most Innovative GSM Wireless Service for Customers. It was also cited as the “Best Product Innovation” award at the MasterCard Marketing Awards in Australia.
In 2005, Smart launched the world’s first mobile phone-based remittance service called Smart Padala for Filipino migrant workers.
Current estimates say over US$230 billion are annually remitted by migrant workers back to their families, accounting for an important source of income for the economy of their home countries. According to a 2006 World Bank issue brief on migration and remittances nearly 200 million people worldwide live outside the country of their birth. @
About SMART
Smart Communications, Inc. is the Philippines' leading wireless services provider with 22.9 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-September 2006. Of the total subscriber base served, 16.5 million are under the brands Smart Buddy, Smart Gold, addict mobile, addict mobile prepaid, Smart Infinity, Smart Kid, Smart Kid Prepaid and Smart ACeS. Another 6.4 million subscribers are served through its subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone Corp., under the GSM brand Talk 'N Text. SMART has introduced world-first wireless data services, including mobile commerce services such as Smart Money, Smart Load and Smart Padala. SMART also has 3G services, Smart 3G, and wireless broadband services, Smart Bro. SMART is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Philippines ' leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.
For more information, please visit, www.smart.com.ph.
About the GSMA
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 215 countries of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives as key partners.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members serve more than two billion customers - 82% of the world's mobile phone users.
For more information, please contact:
Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART)
Ramon R. Isberto
Public Affairs Group Head
T +632 511 3101/ +632 511 3106
F +632 511 3100
Email rrisberto@smart.com.ph, publicaffairs@smart.com.ph