Smart enables Video Calls without the need for apps

PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has announced the rollout of Video Calls powered by Video Over LTE (ViLTE), enabling Smart and TNT subscribers with ViLTE-capable devices to make video calls without the need for a third-party app.

With ViLTE, subscribers can make high-quality video calls as easily as dialing a regular voice call, bringing loved ones closer through simpler, smoother, and more personal conversations.

ViLTE video calls are simply charged to the caller’s voice subscription. This means that subscribers with an active Unli Calls offer — such as Unli 5G+ or PowerAll for Smart customers or SurfSaya for TNT users — can virtually enjoy unlimited video calls with ease. And just like in regular calls, the receiver of the call doesn’t need to have an active offer as long as the caller has one.

Smart partners with UnionBank to reward subscribers with up to P5,000 Welcome Gift

Smart subscribers have one more reason to celebrate the new year as mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has teamed up with Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) to bring more exclusive rewards to subscribers with their new UnionBank Credit Card.

 

Under this exciting partnership, qualified Smart Prepaid subscribers will receive a P2,000 Welcome Gift with their new UnionBank Rewards Credit Card, while qualified Smart Postpaid and Smart Infinity subscribers will receive a P5,000 Welcome Gift with their new UnionBank Rewards, UnionBank Miles+, or UnionBank Reserve Credit Card.

Smart and Maya unveil 'Power Savings' exclusive to Smart Postpaid subscribers

Enjoy up to 7% per annum on Maya Savings with your Smart Postpaid account

Mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. has partnered with all-in-one money app, Maya, to launch 'Power Savings,' an exclusive promo that enables postpaid subscribers to grow their savings faster. 

Under the exclusive promo running from Jan. 16 to Feb. 28, Smart Postpaid subscribers with Plan 999 and up, and who have upgraded their Maya Savings account, can earn an interest rate of up to 7% per annum credited daily - from the base interest rate of 4.5% — one of the highest in the market. 

This gives qualified postpaid subscribers a unique opportunity to grow their money faster and extra cash daily to help them achieve their financial goals. 

PLDT, Smart, TNT customers get amazing perks and exclusive rewards from PayMaya this March

Staying connected for family, work, and play is very important for us as we all navigate the New Normal. The good news is that PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart have ramped up the Philippines' internet to blazing speeds. What's also great is customers can enjoy the cashless experience and pay bills or buy mobile load from the comforts of their home via their PayMaya app.  

The best part is that customers of PLDT, Smart, and TNT for the whole month of March can enjoy an entire range of perks and cashback rewards when they pay their bills or buy load from the PayMaya app.  

Smart Padala brings the SENDali experience to Filipinos with its widest and most accessible network of over 60,000 agent touchpoints nationwide!

Wherever you are, sending and receiving money to and from your friends and family is guaranteed to be quick and easy as Smart Padala by PayMaya brings a "SENDali" remittance experience closer to your home with its widest and most accessible network of touchpoints nationwide.

A play between the words send and dali - SENDali promises customers a hassle-free remittance experience with Smart Padala. With this, the leading digital remittance network offers customers the quickest, most convenient, and most accessible way to send and receive padala to and from their loved ones, wherever they may be. 

With Smart Padala’s over 60,000 network touchpoints all over the country, sending and receiving remittances is just as easy as heading to your kapitbahay – no need to commute to the city center and spend time in long lines. Wherever you are, you can easily find a Smart Padala agent 4-6 minutes away from you to take care of your remittance transaction - giving you a truly SENDali experience.*

Smart brings Apple Music to its customers with an exclusive 6-month FREE subscription

Leading mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) announced today that they will be introducing an exclusive 6-month free Apple Music subscription for all Smart Prepaid and Smart Postpaid subscribers powered by the country’s fastest mobile network. Smart customers may claim this by simply logging in to their updated GigaLife App and activating the offer to start enjoying Apple Music’s incredible catalog of 75 million songs, ad-free.

Designed for music lovers, Apple Music offers thousands of songs in immersive Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos providing listeners a revolutionary experience that brings true multidimensional sound and clarity — now with Dynamic Head Tracking capabilities. Apple Music also offers its full catalog in Lossless Audio so that users can unlock amazing definition and stream songs in their original, uncompromised quality.

Senior citizen makes the Smart move, citing husband’s superior customer experience

Mandaluyong resident Maria Lina Porciuncula Grecia had observed how her husband, a loyal Smart customer since 2003, has never had any signal issue with his mobile service. This is the complete opposite of her own mobile service, which, according to Mrs. Grecia, has always been problematic. “We’ve always had difficulty obtaining a decent network connection at home. Despite all efforts and complaints escalated to her previous telco, the problem has always persisted, and the signal even worsened to the point of needing a signal booster,” according to Mrs. Grecia.

When Mobile Number Portability (MNP) started in October 1, Mrs. Grecia took the first opportunity to switch her mobile service to Smart. She proceeded to the Smart Store at the Powerplant Mall in Rockwell, where her husband regularly does his transactions such as bills payment and contract retention.

PLDT, Smart champion data protection, reinforcing customer online safety

To cap the Cybersecurity Awareness Month, PLDT and Smart held back-to-back bootcamps of the CyberSmart online caravan for local government units, Department of Education (DepEd) personnel and the public, to equip them with knowledge and skills on data protection.

“As PLDT and Smart embrace the mission to provide digital innovations that empower Filipinos to live smarter for a better world, we are likewise committed to help you fortify your cyber defenses and ward off cyber attacks,” said Alex O. Caeg, Senior Vice-President & Head of Consumer Sales Group at PLDT and Smart.

Kristian Pagurayan, Awareness, Training and User Adoption Supervisor of the Cybersecurity Operations Group at PLDT and Smart, shared tips on how to spot phishing schemes, one of the most common strategies employed by hackers to steal information. Think of it as the digital version of the 90’s “budol-budol” modus.

PLDT, Smart enable COVID-19 vaccination drives across PH

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) have been working closely with local government units across the country to provide communications support to their respective COVID-19 vaccination drives.

To date, PLDT and Smart have supported the rollout of vaccines in more than 100 LGU vaccination sites in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao by providing free internet connectivity for their frontliners through Smart Bro Pocket Wifi, Prepaid Home Wifi, or a fiber connection. Smart has also been providing communications support to COVID-19 frontliners by providing them SIMs with load.

This initiative has helped vaccine rollouts even in far-flung barangays, particularly in registration efforts. In Cebu, for instance, Cebu City Health Officer Dr. Jeffrey Ibones emphasized the need to bring the vaccines closer to residents in far-flung communities to address vaccine hesitancy, as well as the difficulties residents have encountered in signing up for their schedules and in travelling to the city and back to get their jabs.

ePLDT Recognized as Value-Added Reseller for FY 2022 by MuleSoft

 

ePLDT, the ICT arm of PLDT Enterprise, today announced that it has been awarded as Value-Added Reseller for the current fiscal year 2022 (FY22) by MuleSoft, provider of the world’s #1 integration and API platform, for reaching a milestone in accelerating the digital transformation of its customers.

Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups, said that the company is honored to have been recognized for its efforts to help the partnership grow through its core services that play a vital role in the digital transformation journey of enterprises.

“This recognition fortifies our commitment and dedication to investing more in our technologies, training, and certifications so that we can advance our expertise and help more enterprises across industries reach greater heights,” Hernandez said.

The award reflects ePLDT’s thrust to offer technological solutions that ensure efficiency and competitiveness among businesses in different industries.

MuleSoft’s Regional Sales Leader David Heyman lauded ePLDT’s commitment to the partnership by reaching beyond its goals and continuously enhancing its core services.

Smart launches GigaPlay App to bring exclusive concerts, sports, and more to subscribers for FREE!

Smart is rolling out the red carpet when it comes to exclusive video content with the launch of GigaPlay, a streaming app especially developed for Smart subscribers so they may enjoy an entire suite of live and on-demand sport events, virtual concerts, and so much more with absolutely no subscription fee.

Now downloadable on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, GigaPlay gives Smart customers free access to content curated for Filipinos’ passion for sports and entertainment. All they have to do is connect to the Smart mobile network and play the GigaPlay content they want anytime and anywhere.

“We Filipinos know what we want when it comes to streaming and through GigaPlay, we want to make it simple and easy for Filipinos to access and watch what they love, powered by the country’s fastest mobile network. GigaPlay builds on our efforts to enable our subscribers to live the GigaLife, with all their digital needs and the latest technology right at their fingertips,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart.

PLDT, Smart’s pandemic-tested education programs underpin new school year

 

PLDT and Smart are boosting distance learning in the new school year with innovative programs that have stood the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Education has recently released the calendar for schoolyear 2021-2022. Face-to-face classes, whether partial or in full scale, remain prohibited.

With more than a year under varying degrees of quarantine, schools have turned to blended learning to continue education. PLDT and Smart have been supporting the education sector with initiatives that are responsive to the new normal of learning.

“Students will once again welcome another schoolyear, albeit a very different one from what they were used to before the pandemic. PLDT and Smart continue to roll out solutions that empower the education sector in the continuing COVID-19 saga, making sure that no learner is left behind,” said Catherine Yap-Yang, First Vice President and Group Head of Corporate Communications of PLDT and Smart.

Cash in to your PayMaya account at over 90,000 touchpoints nationwide!

 

Running low on funds on your PayMaya account? Worry not, because adding funds to your go-to e-wallet is now easier than ever as PayMaya expands to over 90,000 cash in touchpoints nationwide – the most extensive network offered by an e-wallet in the Philippines.

To make your cashless experience hassle-free and even more accessible, you can cash in for free at 55,000 of these touchpoints – including your BPI online banking (via linked account), your go-to Ministop branch, and your trusted Smart Padala agent. 

Adding to PayMaya's nationwidest network of cash in touchpoints are top supermarkets and leading establishments, including 7-Eleven, Robinsons Supermarket, Robinsons Department Store, SM Hypermarket, SM Supermarket, SM Department Store, Landers, Super8, Southstar Drug, Bayad Center, Easymart, EC Pay, LBC Express, No Brand, Palawan Pawnshop, Posible, RD Pawnshop, Savemore, Shopwise, The Marketplace, among others. These establishments also allow PayMaya users to cash in to their accounts for free for a monthly aggregate amount of up to P10,000.

Get up to 50% off on Smart Bro devices at Shopee’s 9.9 sale!

 

As another year of blended learning kicks off, a fast and reliable connection has never been more essential for students, teachers, and parents to support hours of virtual classes and online research for homework and assignments.

To make it easier for subscribers to enjoy the country’s fastest mobile network on their WiFi-ready devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, leading mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) is offering up to 50% discount on Prepaid WiFi devices at the much-anticipated Shopee’s 9.9 Super Shopping Day.

PLDT, Smart embrace mental wellness in pandemic, empowering youth to speak up

 

Amid dark and difficult times, the Filipino people’s resilience and camaraderie have built a more empathic culture and safer spaces online. With the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health becomes a prevalent issue that affects everyone. PLDT and Smart, through its collaborative initiative and platform Better Today, recently partnered with #MentalHealthPH, one of the country’s largest mental health advocacy groups, to drive conversations on mental health awareness.

The recent #UsapTayo session, which was a special collaboration between PLDT and Smart and #MentalHealthPH, generated over 20-million impressions online and have been participated by over 600 people.

“Our Better Today program serves as a platform for our stakeholders to be part of the conversations on mental health awareness. We recognize that a lot of our stakeholders are our consumers, including today’s youth – our Generation Z (Gen Z). Through Better Today, we are giving our stakeholders a chance to go beyond themselves and help out the larger community,” said PLDT AVP and Head for Government Relations Jose Lukban Rosete.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER headlines Smart Prepaid’s “Build Your Own Giga” campaign

 

Smart Communications, Inc. recently dropped its latest TVC for Smart Prepaid headlined by K-Pop’s “It” group of 2021, TOMORROW x TOGETHER.

Fresh off the massive success of its partnership with 21st century pop icons BTS, Smart carries on by teaming up with TOMORROW x TOGETHER (TXT) to promote “Build Your Own GIGA,” a breakthrough feature on the GigaLife App that gives prepaid subscribers the ease and convenience to make their own GIGA promos according to their passion and lifestyle needs.

Smart Signature and Infinity customers to get FREE Landers membership

 

Leading mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. is giving Smart Signature and Smart Infinity customers the opportunity to enjoy the best grocery shopping experience with a FREE one-year membership to Landers Superstore, the fastest-growing membership shopping store in the country.

Under this special treat, Smart Signature and Infinity subscribers residing in Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite, Bulacan, and Cebu who have opted into Smart’s promos will receive a unique voucher code via text message.

Subscribers may redeem their FREE Landers membership by simply heading to any Landers Superstore branch to present their voucher code. For a safer and contactless experience, subscribers may also redeem their FREE Landers membership online.

Smart Hallyu Hangouts brings Filipino fans closer to Hyun Bin The Crash Landing On You leading man speaks with his fervent Filipino fans

 

“I think touring the Philippines would be a great experience,” said Korean megastar Hyun Bin as he mused about the opportunity to travel once again, especially to visit his Filipino fans, in the second leg of the Smart Hallyu Hangouts.

Presented by leading mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc., Hyun Bin graced the second episode of the Smart Hallyu Hangouts, a series of online shows where subscribers can watch their Korean idols through a live feed from wherever they are in the world. This episode follows the premiere of the series, which featured Hyun Bin’s Crash Landing On You leading lady Son Ye Jin.

Like the first episode, Hyun Bin was joined by Philippines-based host Sam Oh, Korea-based co-host Park Kyung-lim, and select lucky fans who participated in the event via online call.

PLDT Enterprise, Smart and OLFU launch eLearning online store

The largest fully integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines PLDT, through its B2B arm PLDT Enterprise and wireless unit Smart Communications, has partnered with Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) Inc. for the launch of the OLFU Smart Online Store that aims to support the digital learning needs of its students.

OLFU is a progressive and multi-awarded educational institution: a Philippine Quality Award recipient; an Autonomous University as granted by the CHEd, and certified ISO 9001:2015. Most recently, OLFU’s proactive initiatives towards a seamless Fatima Learning Experience (FLEX) paved the way to becoming one of the first out of a few select schools to be granted the authority to conduct limited face-to-face classes—an indication of its commitment to strengthen its academic delivery through technology, improved processes and enhanced facilities.

And to boost FLEX where digital initiatives for eLearning are key, the University opened its OLFU Smart Online Store—an e-commerce platform that will provide its students and teachers access to exclusive connectivity plans and services to support their online education from home.

Smart unveils UNLI GIGA with unlimited access to social media, video apps for only P149

Leading mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. has launched UNLI GIGA to boost its powerful internet speeds with a service that provides subscribers with unlimited access to their favorite social media and video streaming apps.

UNLI GIGA shatters connectivity boundaries on the go or while in quarantine by allowing Smart customers to tell infinite stories, discover content, shape stronger connections, and enjoy everything they love without limits.

With UNLI GIGA, subscribers can either choose UNLI GIGA Stories that comes with unlimited Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Kumu, or UNLI GIGA Video with non-stop YouTube, iWantTFC, NBA League Pass, and Cignal Play, the promo comes with 2 GB data for all sites and apps for seven days for only P149.