Phones for seamen

By Noel G. Tulabut - SunStar

Smart Communications is making good its promise to serve our countrymen abroad. This time, it has shifted to high gears for the benefit of Filipino merchant marines or seamen.

Going an extra mile just to do that, it has acquired 30 percent equity interest in Blue Ocean Wireless (”BOW”), a Dublin-based company delivering GSM communication capability for the merchant maritime sector, for US$15.9 million.

Napoleon L Nazareno, President and CEO of SMART, said 1.2 million seafarers -- of whom 40 percent are Filipinos -- currently populate the global merchant maritime fleet.

“Their communications needs are currently served by satellite-based, bridge-mounted or shared fixed phones that tend to lack privacy. Moreover, these types of phones allow only a limited number of incoming calls and do not provide for SMS or texting. The innovative BOW service will enable seafarers to bring their mobile phones onboard their vessels and use them just as if they were at home or roaming in other countries,” he said

For his part, Robert Johnson, chief executive officer of BOW, said that they are “delighted to announce this investment by SMART and a partnership with them to bring our unique product offering to market. SMART is a natural choice for us given that a significant portion of the world’s seafarers are Filipinos.”

With this commendable undertaking, our hardworking seamen and their families back home are assured of a continuous communication with privacy. One that they have never enjoyed before.

This leading wireless services provider with over 27 million subscribers on its GSM network is always a step ahead of its competitors. Only recently, it had launched another first in the telecom industry, Smart myTV. This enables cellphone users to watch their favorite shows on their handheld phones. With that trailblazing feat, do we see SMART, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the PLDT, getting the exclusive right soon to sell the iPhone in the Philippines?

Cool. I’m impressed.