Melompat ke Tren SMS Gratis

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Pesan teks gratis? SMS gratis? Siapa yang tidak menginginkan itu? Tampaknya itulah topik hangat saat ini — membuat operator telekomunikasi melepaskan pendapatan mereka dari layanan SMS yang lebih dari Rp50 miliar per tahun.

Sekitar satu dekade yang lalu, SMS hanyalah layanan tambahan dan disertakan secara gratis dengan langganan penyedia layanan seluler Anda. Namun, pertumbuhan penggunaan SMS oleh konsumen mendorong mereka untuk beralih ke layanan berbayar. Hal itu tidak menghentikan orang-orang dari mengirim pesan teks hingga Filipina menjadi secara global dikenal sebagai ibu kota SMS dunia.

Sejak bulan lalu, telah ada beberapa upaya lobi untuk membuat SMS kembali gratis. Itu adalah ide yang bagus, tetapi sesuatu yang menurut saya tidak akan terjadi dalam hidup kita ini. Mengapa?

  • Kurang lebih 50% dari pendapatan layanan nirkabel berasal dari data seluler (SMS). Siapa yang mau melepaskan itu?
  • Operasi dengan nol pendapatan namun biaya operasional terus meningkat adalah jalan buntu bisnis. Bisnis apa yang akan mengeluarkan biaya untuk sesuatu yang tidak menghasilkan pendapatan? Bahkan layanan umobile gratis harus menaruh banyak iklan ke ponsel Anda agar bisa bertahan.
  • Telco saling mengenakan biaya interkoneksi. Jika semuanya gratis namun biaya tetap ada, telco kecil akan berakhir membayar jumlah yang sangat besar kepada telco besar.
  • SMS akan memakan sebagian dari pendapatan suara seluler -- mengapa menelepon ketika Anda bisa mengirim teks secara gratis?

Jika SMS menjadi gratis, operator seluler pada akhirnya akan berhenti meningkatkan kapasitas jaringan dan semua orang akan mengalami efek Sun Cellular.

Lalu bagaimana dengan jalan tengah?

  • Rata-rata, hanya kurang dari 10% basis pelanggan sebuah operator telekomunikasi yang berlangganan pascabayar. Sebagian besar adalah prabayar. Bagaimana jika diterapkan layanan SMS tanpa batas dengan tarif flat bagi mereka yang berada dalam paket pascabayar? Ini baik untuk loyalitas konsumen dan lalu lintas tambahan ke jaringan sangat minimal sehingga merupakan win-win.
  • Penghitungan berbasis waktu. Operator telekomunikasi akan mengenakan tarif normal selama jam sibuk dan menawarkannya gratis pada jam tidak sibuk. Tentu saja, operator telekomunikasi seharusnya tidak saling membebankan biaya interkoneksi selama jam tidak sibuk untuk menyamakan lapangan permainan.
  • Sistem pengkodean nomor. MMDA telah melakukannya dengan lalu lintas jalan raya, mungkin kita juga dapat melakukan hal yang sama dengan lalu lintas SMS? Setiap orang mendapatkan hari gratis SMS tergantung pada angka terakhir nomor telepon mereka.

Baik tarif SMS turun atau tidak, total volume lalu lintas SMS tetap akan meningkat di seluruh negeri. Hal ini telah terjadi selama 10 tahun terakhir. Bahkan, saya pikir tarifnya secara relatif telah menurun — mengingat adanya promosi teks sepanjang hari dan penawaran harga dalam jumlah besar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it unlikely that SMS will become free again in the Philippines?
More than 50% of wireless service revenues come from SMS, making it a critical income source for telcos.
What could happen if SMS becomes free according to the article?
Telcos would stop improving network capacity, leading to a decline in service quality.
How do smaller telcos fare if SMS is free?
Smaller telcos would pay large interconnection fees to bigger telcos, creating financial strain.
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Written by
Abe Olandres

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

View all posts by Abe Olandres →

34 Comments

NE
Negosyotext · 15 years ago

You can send unlimited SMS for free with Negosyotext.com. You can send to smart, globe, sun, talk and text and TM

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PR
ProfessorX · 18 years ago

We have options.

My whole family (wife-me-kid) is subscribed postpaid to SUN (unlimited sun calls, unlimited sun texts, free 250 texts to other networks). Most of our relatives have SUN cells, too. We are satisfied with the service and we pay only P350 monthly each plus phones are free. We also get new fones every 2 years. My monthly average sun-to-sun call is 200 minutes.

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ST
Steve Bumgarderner · 18 years ago

Say, does anyone know how to send an SMS text message from a PC via email to a cellphone whose provider is Globe Telecom? The email address that goes in the “To” box should be something like, “ph****@messaging.globetel.com”.
Any input would be appreciated! Thanks.

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BI
Bigbird · 18 years ago

Poor Filipinos Blind for what truly is happening. Have you seen the congress hearing about this? Its like a circus full of clowns. If they really what it for free. Sana right from the start free na sya. Well a portion of it goes to the corrupt gov officials. The main reason why they dont want to lower the tax and targeting that interconnection charges to put the blame on the telcos. From business point of view its like the telco’s are printing their own money. 1SMS = PHP 1 ang baba ng value ng peso. Telco should also moderate their greed.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/98742/NTC-telecom-firms-to-discuss-lower-SMS-rates

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AK
akira · 18 years ago

free sms will not be implemented anymore. but they’ll make text messaging about 60-65 centavos.read it in the inquirer

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JO
joseph · 18 years ago

There must be something fishy when the government suddenly thought of making texting free and consumer welfare in general. First, it was the plan to take over Meralco supposedly to lower down power rates. Next was to freeze the tuition fee hike on SCUs. Then, there was the government subsidy on farmers. Then free texts? The government just wants to take away people’
s attention with ZTE, rising rice and fuel costs,etc.

Reply
JC
JC John SESE Cuneta · 18 years ago

Wow, look how I’m disconnected with the Philippines News… I rely on Television so much for news stuff and I haven’t watched TV for a month already!

PGMA planning to make SMS free-of-charge? DISASTER.

What Madame President should and must do is to force these telcos to give us the technology that’s been there in-place for years. See, these telcos install and buy technologies and just implement these slowly. It is happening also in Malaysia, and this is outright deprivation.

And concentrate on getting the Asean Charter approved by the Philippine Government before making SMS free-of-charge :/

I wouldn’t mind paying for useful services than make it free-of-charge and suffer setbacks in the long-run.

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JH
jhay · 18 years ago

All this talk about SMS being for free again is just a PR gimmick of the Arroyo administration to boost its image. They only have less than 2 years in office so it’s time to secure that graceful and safe exit.

What they should look into is dismal state of customer service the telcos provide us customers. And lastly, the quality of their services.

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DE
deuts · 18 years ago

@ la ciudadista

I agree to you. I have been an OFW once. That is one thing our politicians should focus their energy instead.

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LA
la ciudadista · 18 years ago

while I support moves to at lower domestic SMS rates, the government should also look into ordering telcos to lower international SMS rates. the average standard rates of globe, smart, sun for prepaid and postpaid accounts are one of the highest in the region. i suspect that the telcos charge a lot for international SMS to cash in on the many Filipinos who have family and friends abroad.
if you want to see a comparative list of international sms rates in the region please see my post: http://ciudadista.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/government-should-also-lower-international-sms-charges/

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JA
Jan Alvin · 18 years ago

Politicians are not thinking really hard of what would their actions will make.

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KA
katexter · 18 years ago

Just a heads-up (and shameless plug na rin)…

Our site offers free sms to members in a social network environment. We’re still working on features such as keyword forwarding, and phonebook uploading, so please bear with us.

Reply
YO
Yoru · 18 years ago

… or perhaps they could lift/extend the expiration of the airtime/sms credits :)

But honestly, I don’t really find SMS rates THAT taxing compared to the basic commodities we need to buy.

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PI
Pinoy Apostolic · 18 years ago

@ deuts – I agree!

I’d rather pay for SMS than have a callous thumb trying to delete every ad that’ll find it’s way to my cellphone…

Reply
DE
deuts · 18 years ago

Will this free SMS prevent people from sending messages like this:?

Greetings. Need cash? We offer U a NO COLLATERAL CASHLOAN fr 10K-500k 4 as LOW as 1.2%/mo. If interested, pls call MS. MAE ANN @ 02-4433253/4450695/0905*******.TNX

Definitely not. As a matter of fact it will be the other way around. And I’m getting pissed by them. They start to ruin my day.

So for me, I’d rather have the telcos trash the free 24/hr SMS promos and better increase the SMS rate to at least double that of today.

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SP
spidamang · 18 years ago

RE: number coding scheme

People will just get more sim cards IMHO. :D

Reply
JA
jaJa · 18 years ago

Number-coding scheme –> it is virtually impossible to implement promos based on mobile number endings as subscriber number series are arranged by start of number. It is not feasible still as it would create a sudden surge in traffic for subscribers with specific number series thus congesting network equipment creating bottlenecks.This can be compared to congestion problems when noontime shows launched promos where free load codes are flashed on tv. The sudden surge of traffic from subscribers trying to load created congestion during noontime.

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