We: telco price-war victims

Imagine getting a phone worth P30,000++ for free just by promising to pay the telco P800 or P1,200 every month for two short years! That's what the Telcos are doing now.

I heard from various forums that Smart came out with the "high-end phones at low prices" promos on July 9, as a pre-emptive strike to counter Globe's promo which came out last July 15, Thursday.

Smart took a six day lead over Globe in offering the high-end phones at low price. I figure, this could cost Globe millions of pesos worth of subscriptions just because Smart did their promo 6 days ahead.

But the price-war is just getting hotter. Smart extended its promo by three days. Bangayan na ito.

The telcos need to approve their sudden glut of new subscriber applications. I heard from one of the telcos that approval is 2-3 weeks after application. (Aren't they worried that the other telco might do it in less than 2 weeks?)

The telcos have resorted to a surer method of getting subscribers who will pay promptly (unlike somebody I know). It's called "Auto-debit".

The bottom-line is: "It's not the number of applications you get but the number of subscribers you lock-in."

So, who will win the telco price war? I don't care too much. You know who reeaaaallly comes out the winner in this war? The consumers! As Pong pagong used to say .... Weeeeeeee!

- edwin