When rumors were going around that umobile is rebranding and will now be named Red Mobile, I asked around from sources and confirmed the closure of what have the first ad-supported mobile service in Asia.
On April 28, 2008, PLDT disclosed to the SEC that it has bought CURE from Bobby Ongpin for a total amount of Php419.54 million and along with it, the allocation of 10 Mhz in the 2100 Mhz band.
Smart also disclosed it will be investing an additional Php210 Million which it says will operate independently, resulting to the new service called umobile. In essence, Smart got the 3G license and additional bandwidth while umobile will ride on Smart’s network.
According to a source close to someone inside umobile:
- umobile will cease to exist. Operations of umobile have been merged with Smart and several people were let go due to the resulting redundancies.
- Red Mobile will now be the new brand of the mobile service, much like how Addict Mobile was positioned by Smart for the niche crowd.
- The ad-supported model is still in question. It might continue; it might not. But based on the re-branding, my guess is that it won’t go as originally planned. Otherwise, they would have just stuck to the brand and just consolidated operations.
What might have happened? It could be one of many things.
- My source said, Smart was only interested in the 3G license. Maybe that’s why we’ve seen Smart 3G (Smart Bro) go up to 2Mbps recently.
- umobile didn’t get much traction and might have missed their milestone of 10,000 subscribers by year-end.
- There were also problems with interconnectivity with other telcos like Globe and Sun Cellular.
- Companies didn’t bite the ad-supported model. This one is a bit curious since they set-up was really targeted. It’s also possible that a userbase of under 10,000 is too little to run an SMS-based campaign.
Will update this once I get additional info. I never even used my umobile credits. Still, for some, it was good while it lasted.
Disclosure: Smart is an advertiser on this blog.
Twitter: marhgil
says:
Umobile called me already and told me they are going to deliver a new Red Mobile SIM this week. Did you receive the same call?
I got the same call too. They said that umobile will cease operations beginning November 16 and that Red Mobile will replace it.
di pa ako tinatawagan nauna pa tawagan mga invites ko
ive seen their adds on tv.. but only a teaser
sana maganda naman ung RED MOBILE…
please drop by: http://tambayancentral.com/
Yan pala yung napanood ko sa commercial.
[...] has more insider/expert info on this re-branding for uMobile, apparently, uMobile failed to achieve its key goals in order to survive like the 10,000 user base [...]
yeah me too I received a call saying they will deliver my new sim. and yes I’ve seen the commercial too.
SUS, BKA PAREHO LANG NG SUN YAN, MAHIRAP TUMAWAG?! MAGSASAYANG LANG TAU LOAD NYAN!
CURE mentioned missing their milestone of 10,000 subscribers by year-end. How will they NOT miss it when they are purely INVITE-ONLY?! Also, add the fact that they disabled the sending of invites to others by some time meaning NO OTHER PEOPLE CAN SUBSCRIBE/JOIN THE UMOBILE SERVICE.
Being a umobile subscriber for months since its inception, I never really received any SMS-Advertisement. Very problematic rin ang pagload sa kanila.
The good thing with umobile is that since they have little subscribers, I noticed that 3G/GPRS browsing using umobile is FAST (Smart and umobile uses DIFFERENT APNs for 3G/GPRS). Not only is it fast, it is also CHEAPER as well since they only charge PhP 0.33/min. This is great for those who only browse the Net to check on emails and quickly disconnect from it. (Smart charges PhP 10.00/30mins while Globe PhP 5.00/15mins if I’m not mistaken).
Well, the change of umobile to Red Mobile has some ups and downs as well. The good news is that according to the Customer Service Repsetentative I’ve talked to, the intra calls and text (Red Mobile-Red Mobile) is CHEAP @ PhP 0.50/text and PhP 0.50/min. The bad news is for those who’ll be using it for 3G/GPRS browsing. From PhP 0.33/min, they changed the rate into PhP 7.50/15mins (Making Smart and Globe’s rate cheaper). With this rate, I’d rather surf using Globe or Smart than Red Mobile.
Will this Red Mobile thingy work? I personally don’t think so. I mean look at Addict Mobile. If I remember it correctly, Addict Mobile is mainly for MMS users (with an MMS rate of PhP 3.00/MMS) and basing from the commercials, caters for the Class A and B crowd. So where is Addict Mobile now? Afterall, Smart already changed their MMS rates @ PhP 1.00/MMS Smart/Talk&Text-Smart/Talk&Text and PhP 2.00/MMS Smart/Talk&Text-Globe. Nawala rin at nabaon sa limot!
Also, look at the current telecom commercials. Back then they marketed Talk&Text for the ‘masa’ while Smart for the ‘more elite’ crowd. This is the same with Touch Mobile for the ‘masa’ and Globe for the ‘elite’. Nowadays, theres little or no distinction at all (look at Smart’s “Me na Me” slogan).
Well, at least meron pa free load, I hope…
does anybody know redmobile’s website?
by the way, i got unlimited calling (even international calls) with umobile. hopefully, it would be the same with red mobile
They’re rebranding because their business model didn’t work.
I’m happy to pay PHP 1.5k – 2k for unlimited 3G and WiFi. Why can’t Smart and Globe understand that? They also know that people would use line-based broadband because it’s faster than any wireless connection most of the time.
It’s like PLDT asking people to pay a few hundred pesos to offer unlimited Airborne Access on top of their home DSL subscription. They know people use the internet at home and rarely at places where AA is present. That’s the point they subscribed to home DSL in the first place.
Imagine browsing on the iPhone via Red Mobile 3G. Then they bombard you with SMS ads that pop up once in a while you are surfing. You get twice the ads 1)from the websites that you are surfing on and 2) from the SMS ads!
@ daisy myers
i called umobile hotline kanina wala pa daw website
Sayang naman. Ganda pa naman ng number ko. Never ko pa nga nagamit, wala na.. magamit na nga bago tuluyang mawala
They have to rebrand the umobile service to Red Mobile since here is a network operator in Malaysia that is also branded as umobile. They did this to avoid some intellectual property rights issues.
They also need to issue new sim cards to existing umobile subscribers because umobile used to have their own network which is designated as 515-18 and when their own network is not available, they use the facilities of SMART, this is called national roaming. Hence, you will see the roaming icon on your screen if you are outside the local network of umobile. I think this is what caused the interconnectivity problems with other network operators such as Globe and Sun. I tried using my umobile sim to call Bayantel, PLDT Smart/Talk N’ Text and even Extelcom and they worked perfectly well.
additionally, they need to streamline their operations. what is the use for mother company PLDT operating 2 different networks when CURE/umobile/Red Mobile can ride on the SMART network much like how Piltel is using SMART for their Talk N’ Text service. so naturally, they shut down their own existing 30 cell sites and merged them with SMART’s. A similar senario occured before when Globe and the then Islacom (INNOVE) merged. Islacom’s own network 515-01 was shut down and was integrated with Globe’s network 515-02
[...] behind it all… I would give the floor to the more expert techy people… Here is an interesting post about umobile’s rebranding and some discussions on the comments to substantiate further any [...]
well as far as i know some one told me that red mobile is different, is that true that there is a 100 load per month, pls tell me the truth, well if the red obile sim will be available in the market i really get one then of course i need to activate it, i will call na lang the hotline once i have it, how about you?? do you want to have red mobile sim, im very exciting to have one, maybe all the promo or some services will be available soon, i can’t wait for the sim where can i buy kaya ng sim, kapag nlman ko lagay ko agad dito ge
ayun na nga sana makakita ako ng sim n yan, kaya lang kailan kaya mging availale di ko din alam ang hotline para makapagtanong, sguro next week n lng ako maghahanap baka meron na, hay………
what ba ung rd mobile? ang gulo ng teaser b tawag dun/?di ko magets eh
Im a umobile user. As I heard red mobile will be release on November 22 for only P39.00. My red mobile will be delivered on nov. 20. Im lad to have one again. For any info visit our site for tips and trix. nuckerz.ws3x.com
Sana marecve ko na ung reD m0bile ko. Nung n0v14 pa ako natawagan ng csR. Sbi antay daw ako ng n0v16 to n0v20 kaso wala naman dumating. I’m waiting 2GO.
i heard the rates IS NOT UNLIMITED! its only 50cents/text/call
pano na me?hndi ko kc na insert ang umobile sim ko hbng ngkakagulo p cla..hehehe..waahhh..panu n yn di me ininform ng csr kng kelan delivry ng red mobile…:-(
wla ku alm.. curious lng aq.. =)
kung 50cnts/min at per txt..
sa sun nlng aq
unlimited pa..
sana mag offr din cla ng unlimited..
para mas click…