Last Christmas, the trend started with people shifting from sending out text messages on their phone to just using Facebook and Twitter to greet friends and loved ones.
We estimated as much as Php50 million could have been lost to Facebook just on Christmas eve.
This year, people have been using Facebook and Twitter way more than a year ago and it’s not just during Christmas or New Year’s day.
Counter-measures were made to offset that shift with telcos offering unlimited access to Facebook and many other social networking sites (for a daily flat rate between Php20 to Php25).
But the trend still remains — people send less SMS and using social networking sites like FB or Twitter as an alternative. How much the telcos are losing from this shift is unknown but maybe we can do some rough estimates.
Last time I checked, there are around 18 million accounts on Facebook from the Philippines. If we can figure out how much less an average FB user send text messages in favor of FB messages to greet people, that could one way of extrapolating the figure.
So, how much less have you bee texting and using FB or Twitter instead to send out greetings this holiday season?
Even though I didn’t send out text greetings last christmas, Telcos still earn a lot of money from me. I tend to call rather than text. LOL
And to add to the topic, telcos may be losing revenues from text messages during the christmas and new year, the revenues from the broadband connection is steadily increasing considering they (telcos) are the providers of such.
Nevertheless, screw them especially Globe for the poor and rotten service their providing to their consumers!
SMS is getting old because there always nothing new about it. SMS will always be text-based that’s why it’s getting old. Seriously, i’m already tired of SMS since it’s just text-based meaning you cannot interact with it.
Internet is always new even though it existed years ago. Why? There are always a new thing you can find across the internet. From pictures, videos, games, applications and even more interactive content, the internet is always a fresh place to be.
Many people buy a new people not because of SMS anymore. People nowadays are also using their mobile phone to browse the internet. Ever since, i got a smartphone, i never used it for SMS but for web browsing instead (i only use SMS to those people who only have access to an ordinary mobile).
See, even mobile phones are now a tool to browse the internet.
I think SMS is not that old, maybe we’ve just found alternatives (fb & twitter). SMS still very useful today. I think sending message on friends’ wall aren’t enough because some can’t accesss in Internet always.
sending an sms to a relative will make them say “what the hell are you doing? facebook is there, so why bother to send an ancient sms message?”
giant telcos now carry their traffic – voice, data, SMS, video (don’t 4get), etc. via their NGN (IP-based) network. it’s all Internet! they’re not maintaining separate facilities for each service. how can they lose? the real losers in this race are the small telcos.
sms is now a dinosaur!
ever since my friends created a facebook account, they stopped from sending sms.
yes, so far i only did my greetings in FB except for those people who texted me personally and i did replied back, in the end, i still appreciate those who texted me coz mostly they are the ones close to me.
If telcos are losing money over to FB and Twitter, the next question would be up until when will supporting SMS over telco networks be profitable? Even if they cut down the rates for sms, if operating the sms service becomes an expense rather than make money from it, I see the sms service going the way of pagers.
good question. i also noticed that network traffic was low last christmas – i was able to easily send/ receive SMS. by next holiday season, wala nang mauunang bumati ng 24th “to avoid network traffic”.
yup..i think there losing..anyway..i only texted 2 friends of mined.I did greet them on facebook. Much easier than texting. I also think that the telcos must upgrade there services. They still sucks..
pero malaki pa rin naman ang cater market ng sms. not everyone has an instant access to internet, like pc/laptop or smartphone. marami parin ang preferred ang sms kasi parng instant, real time at personal.
but i use fb kasi mas masaya, interactive (lahat ng friends pedeng magcomment-an sa isang posts) at madaling i access in my part.
Still sent out xmas sms greetings… had plenty of free sms’s, might as well use them all. :)
The problem for telcos is that they maintain the system for all services like voice, SMS and Internet. If a user only uses voice they telcos loses the money that they spent on the SMS and Internet side.
So if people uses all services that’s the revenue for telcos. Since people are using the sms and most probably the voice service just uses the Internet, then telcos could be facing some financial problem down the line.
i used facebook over sms to send greetings this christmas,, because i cannot register to unlitxt and sms traffic ,, and with fb i can use “tag ” to share extra photos to make my greetings more heart felt…
I actually posted this before Christmas on two social network sites: “With Facebook and Twitter, who needs unlimited texting?” And friends who replied seemed to indicate they were going SNS over SMS. Actually, I did not subscribe to unlimited texting this Christmas (which they did away with anyways) and most likely won’t for New Year too.
I used only 10 php on my load for the every week. I don’t use my mobile phone anymore for texting or calling. Instead, I use Skype, Nimbuzz (Yahoo & MSN), G.Chat, FB, and Twitter that is connected on a WiFi.
oras na para bumaba ang rate ng mobile internet hehehehe
I think to suggest telcos make connect to FB and and twitter.
raymond is correct. to add to his argument. telcos are now shifting to IP networks by phasing out their old exchages. their telephony system is now using SIP, an IP protocol.
toll calls are much cheaper via SIP – at least by 70%. one telco i know is now 100% SIP in their nationwide network. remember, savings = revenue, right? so they’re not losing.
finally, each subscriber line in the new system provides both voice and data. so, telcos want all consumers to subscribe broadband to recover their investment. as long as they earn P999/month, they don’t mind if SMS traffic drops.
@manong
get lost, troll!
the internet is not the place for the likes of you!
go find an appropriate place where you can do all of your trolling!