Smart Communications, Inc. has joined forces with Vodafone, one of the world’s largest mobile communications companies, to provide Smart subscribers with innovative mobile and data services, as well as a superior customer experience.
As the first and only partner of Vodafone in the Philippines, Smart now has access to the telecom giant’s vast pool of knowledge and resources, including cutting-edge information technology systems and best practices in roaming, marketing, and customer value management.
Smart and Vodafone will also enter a series of collaborations, which may include the sharing of rollout strategies for LTE (Long Term Evolution) and green networks.
“We are proud to be the preferred partner of Vodafone in the Philippines, as we work together to meet the growing demand among multinational businesses for sophisticated voice, data and roaming solutions within and beyond the Asia Pacific region,” said Smart International and Carrier Business Division Head Alex Caeg, who is also Deputy Chairman of the Conexus Mobile Alliance Board.
Smart’s collaboration with Vodafone will make possible game-changing initiatives in the areas of customer service, e-services, roaming offerings, among others.
“Through our participation in the Conexus alliance, Smart customers have been first in the region to enjoy a daily data rate of only US$10 when roaming on Conexus member networks,” Ramos said. “With Smart’s expanded collaboration with both Conexus and Vodafone, we can look forward to more customer-friendly benefits over a larger roaming footprint in the near future,” said Smart International Roaming Business and Alliances Head Mary Alice Ramos,.
Smart Customer Care Head Joy Y. Sanchez said this partnership will enable Smart to provide better online self-care services to subscribers by harnessing Vodafone’s global best practices for both web services and social media.
“This will allow better customer experience in serving the evolving demands of our subscribers,” she said.
“We are fully committed to developing a long-lasting relationship with our customers. This commitment is being reinforced by the way we communicate with our customers online. Our partnership with Vodafone enables us to leverage off the combined years of online experience of both Smart and Vodafone globally,” said Smart Digital Media Head Mellissa B. Limcaoco.
This collaboration is made possible by the strategic partnership between Vodafone and Conexus, one of Asia’s largest mobile alliances which counts Smart and other regional telecom leaders like Japan’s NTT Docomo, Singapore’s StarHub, and Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecommunications as active members.
The data-roaming reach of Conexus members, which have a combined customer base of 320 million, has now expanded from 10 Asian markets to more than 30 markets in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa.