ABS-CBN Mobile (stylized as ABS-CBNmobile) was a

cellular telephony Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the l ...

service provider in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

owned and operated by

ABS-CBN Convergence ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. (formerly known as Multimedia Telephony, Inc.) is the communications subsidiary of the media conglomerate ABS-CBN. It operates a wireless mobile phone service ABS-CBN Mobile, which was launched on November 16, 2013, an ...

, a subsidiary of

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

. ABS-CBNmobile formerly uses the network infrastructures of

Globe Telecom Globe Telecom, Inc., commonly shortened as Globe, is a major provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines. The company operates the largest mobile network in the Philippines and one of the largest fixed-line and broadband networks ...

under a network-sharing agreement which allows ABS-CBN and Globe to share frequencies,

switches In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...

s, and

transmitters In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to th ...

. ABS-CBNmobile formerly offers prepaid and

postpaid The postpaid mobile phone is a mobile phone for which service is provided by a prior arrangement with a mobile network operator. The user in this situation is billed after the fact according to their use of mobile services at the end of each mon ...

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

, voice,

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

, wireless

landline A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...

connection (postpaid only), and access to premium and exclusive contents of

iWant TV iWantTFC is a Filipino over-the-top content platform and production company owned and operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, a division of ABS-CBN Corporation, formed in 2020 through the merger of two streaming services iWant and TFC Online. In ad ...

. Globe Telecom and ABS-CBN announced that it will shut down the service by November 30, 2018, due to income losses and stiff competition from Telecommunications providers such as

PLDT PLDT, Inc., formerly known as the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company ( fil, Kompanya ng Teleponong Pangmalayuan ng Pilipinas), is a Philippine telecommunications, internet and digital service holdings company. It is one of the country's ...

Smart Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * '' SMart'', a children's television se ...

. The service was officially discontinued on December 1, 2018.

History

On May 28, 2013, entertainment and media conglomerate

and wireless telecommunications giant

signed a historic network-sharing agreement which allows the two companies to share assets such as frequencies, switches, servers, and transmitters and allows ABS-CBN to offer its own prepaid and postpaid SMS, voice, and data services to its own targeted market. ABS-CBN will then pay Globe based on the amount of bandwidth used and for other technical and support expenses. Also part of the deal was the sale of Lopez Holding's

Bayan Telecommunications Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (BayanTel) is a telecommunications company headquartered in Quezon City, Philippines serving areas in Metro Manila, Bicol and local exchange service areas in the Visayas and Mindanao regions combined, cover a popula ...

(BayanTel) to Globe through a debt purchase agreement. The

National Telecommunications Commission The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC; fil, Pambansang Komisyon sa Telekomunikasyon) is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over a ...

approved the deal on June 8, 2013. ABS-CBN Corporation, on the other hand, has announced that it would invest 2 to 3 billion pesos in the next two years to the said service. The mobile network service was supposed to be launched in early September but it was postponed due to operational issues. On November 16, 2013, during the ''"Tulong Na, Tabang Na, Tayo Na"'' benefit concert of ABS-CBN for the Typhoon Haiyan victims at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the service was officially launched to the public. Actor

Piolo Pascual Piolo Jose Nonato Pascual (, born January 12, 1977) is a Filipino film and television actor, singer, model, and producer. Early life Piolo Jose Nonato Pascual was born on January 12, 1977, in Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center located in Malat ...

stated that the first 100 thousand sim cards were sent to the survivors of the said typhoon in the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...

region for free to help restore communications among the members of the family. On November 18, 2013, a television advertisement featuring Kim Chiu,

Enrique Gil Enrique Mari Bacay Gil V (; born March 30, 1992) is a Filipino actor, dancer, and commercial model. Gil has appeared in various films and television shows such as ''Mula Sa Puso'', ''Budoy'', ''Princess and I'', '' Muling Buksan Ang Puso'' an ...

and

John Lloyd Cruz John Lloyd Espidol Cruz (born June 24, 1983) is a Filipino actor, model and occasional TV host. He was a member of ABS-CBN's Star Magic, where he is an alumnus of Batch 5. He starred in the teen drama '' Tabing Ilog'', and is best known for his ...

was officially previewed. On December 11, 2013, the first ABS-CBNmobile store and service center opened at the ground floor level of

ELJ Communications Center The Eugenio Lopez Junior Communications Center (also called 9501, ELJ Communications Center, or simply ELJ Center) is the headquarters of the media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiaries, and the television network of the same n ...

. ABS-CBN Corporation chairman

Eugenio Lopez III Eugenio Gabriel "Gabby" Lopez III (born August 13, 1952) is a Filipino-American businessman who was the CEO (1993–2013), chairman (1997–2018) and chairman emeritus (2018–2020) of ABS-CBN Corporation, the largest entertainment and media co ...

and its president and CEO

Charo Santos-Concio María Rosario Navarro Santos-Concio (born October 27, 1955), popularly known as Charo Santos-Concio or simply Charo Santos (), is a Filipino media executive and actress. She is the host of '' Maalaala Mo Kaya'', the longest-running television dr ...

was present during the opening along with celebrity endorsers

Julia Montes Mara Hautea Schnittka (; born March 19, 1995), known professionally as Julia Montes (), is a Filipino-German actress and model. She is one of the most sought-after actresses in the country and has been hailed as the “''Royal Princess of Dram ...

and

Erich Gonzales Erika Chryselle Gonzales Gancayco-Lorenzo (born September 20, 1990), better known by her stage name Erich Gonzales (), is a Filipino actress. She is a contract artist of ABS-CBN's Star Magic. She started her showbiz career at the age of 14, a ...

. ABS-CBNmobile has partnered with

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

brands CloudFone,

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...

, and 0+ USA for smartphone packages with pre-installed ABS-CBNmobile

sim card A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout) A GSM mobile phone file:Simkarte NFC SecureElement.jpg, T-Mobile nano-SIM card with NFC capabilities in the SIM tray of an iPhone 6s file:Tf sim both sides.png, A TracFone Wireless SIM card ha ...

mobile apps A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on des ...

(such as

), and a limited trial period of the ABS-CBNmobile services. ABS-CBNmobile also partnered with KakaoTalk for free online messaging as well as to

Viber Viber, or Rakuten Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten, provided as freeware for the Google Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS ...

, Line,

WeChat WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has b ...

, and

WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows use ...

for paid online messaging. ABS-CBNmobile also partnered with

SM Supermalls SM Supermalls, also simply known as SM, owned by SM Prime, is a chain of shopping malls in the Philippines that as of November 18, 2022 has 82 malls located across the country and 20 more scheduled to be opened for an eventual total of 102 ma ...

, Walter Mart Philippines, 7-Eleven Philippines, Mini Stop Philippines,

Vmobile Vmobile was a Nigerian mobile phone network provider with close to a million subscribers in 2004. The company was previously owned by Econet Wireless Nigeria, but after a shareholder dispute was purchased (for a month) by Vodacom of South Africa. ...

, Telepreneur, Corp., ULoad, and Load Central for the expansion of ABS-CBNmobile sim cards, prepaid load cards, and postpaid payment centers. On December 1, 2016, ABS-CBNmobile launched their own

4G LTE In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by us ...

service. As of 2016, ABS-CBNmobile has a subscriber base of 904,000 bringing its losses to 600 million pesos down from 700 million pesos a year ago. On July 16, 2018, ABS-CBN and Globe Telecom announced that it will not renew their network-sharing agreement after assessing its mobile business model as financially unsustainable, making ABS-CBNmobile shut down during the year. The two companies will remain committed for partnership for content sharing using its existing resources. And it was officially posted on their website and social media accounts on October 16, 2018, the shutdown of the mobile network-sharing agreement and services until November 30, 2018, at 11:59 PM. From December 1, 2018, onwards, it was officially discontinued of all services and the network signal from Globe will be permanently deactivated until further notice. Meanwhile, all ABS-CBN mobile prepaid SIM subscribers can claim a new free SIM with 2GB of data and access to KBO online in selected Smart partner outlets. The qualified subsidy as all ABS-CBN mobile prepaid subscribers with active SIM and receive an SIM swap message from ABS-CBN mobile.

References

External links

ABS-CBNmobile official website
{{Philippine mobile phone companies ABS-CBN Convergence Mobile virtual network operators Mobile phone companies of the Philippines Mass media companies established in 2013 Companies based in Quezon City Assets owned by ABS-CBN Corporation Mass media companies disestablished in 2018 2013 establishments in the Philippines 2018 disestablishments in the Philippines