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A MAJOR telecommunications company plans to expand its business by serving the Internet and communication service needs of schools and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) for this year.
Edwin Domingo, division head of marketing and business development of Eastern Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. (Eastern Communications), said their research showed an increasing demand among SMEs for Internet services.
“Internet is now used as a way of engaging the students, while SMEs are now giving in to sophistication. About 57 percent of the companies are requiring employees to telecommute or have a laptop or any mobile device to do business transactions,” Domingo said.
The University of San Carlos and real estate company, J. King and Sons, Inc. are some of the institutions in Cebu serviced by the company, said Domingo.
Domingo said 88 percent of the company’s clients are corporate portfolio, while only 12 percent are consumers.
He said it is a long standing strategy of the company not to compete with telecoms which concentrates more on the consumer market.
“We feel that by focusing on the corporate market, we become more sensitive to quality service. For a company, when Internet service is down, business is affected. That is why it is critical to have it all the time,” he said.
Eastern Communication is servicing companies in banking and finance, retail and distribution, gaming and media, shipping and transport and business process outsourcing.
Despite the crisis, which affected the companies they service, he said the company still recorded 13 percent growth in 2008.
They also target 21 percent growth by yearend 2009, said Domingo.
Cebu comprises 30 percent of its total business portfolio with most companies needing Internet and data services.
“But the potential for Cebu is big noting that it’s the second largest city next to Metro Manila,” Domingo said.
In 2007, the company invested P200 million worth of infrastructure in Metro Manila, Northern Luzon and Cebu.
This year, he said, the company is allocating close to P1 billion for additional infrastructure and systems improvements in Laguna, Batangas, Cavite, Metro Manila and Cebu.
Domingo said 75 percent of this will be spent for infrastructure, 20 percent for systems and five percent for operation and managerial costs.
He said there are no direct plans to expand consumer market reach.
Domingo said the 12 percent consumer market they served is mostly located in prime residential areas.
Eastern Communications was established 131 years ago when the Spanish Government commissioned Eastern Extension to connect the Philippine to the rest of the world via undersea cable. /Reporter Cris Evert B. Lato
