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SMS, Business, and Government in the Philippines Emmanuel C. Lallana, PhD
- Nora Watkins
- 3 years ago
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1 SMS, Business, and Government in the Philippines Emmanuel C. Lallana, PhD In the Philippines, one can send a text message to God and get a response. The President sends instructions to members of her Cabinet and other subordinates via SMS. Legislators send text messages instead of listening to their colleagues during legislative sessions. In the acknowledged SMS capital of the world, there is a poetry writing contest via SMS to popularize and continue the tradition of one of the country s oldest forms of poetry by using modern technology. TV talent search contest allow viewers to vote for the winner using SMS. Science teachers can request for supplementary teaching materials using SMS. Farmers use SMS to find higher prices for their produce. The young use it to start and/or develop relationships: greeting a boyfriend Gud AM ; courting a girl; expressing love/affection to parents. The cellular phone is now the Filipinos digital device of choice. Consider the following:!" Over 22 million (of the total 80 million) Filipinos have cell phones;!" There are 6.7 million available landlines or wired telephones in the country but only half of these phones are subscribed;!" Only 5 million Filipinos have access to the Internet (six out of every 100); and!" There are only 1.53 million PCs (or about 2 PCs for every 100 Filipinos) in the country. Cell phones are popular because they are convenient, relatively inexpensive and easy to acquire. Their ubiquity also has something to do with their capability to send and receive short messages (popularly called text messages). Of course, Filipinos are hardly alone in using the cell phone and sending text messages. Globally, the number of cell phones surpassed the number of landlines/wired phones in It has been estimated that there are about 1.5 billion mobile phone handsets with around 113 billion SMS messages sent worldwide in A BRIEF HISTORY The cell phone was introduced in the Philippines when the Philippine government started allowing limited competition in the telecommunications sector. Until the early 1990s, telecommunications services were provided by a private monopoly Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). In 1992, then Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yee quipped before an audience of 1
2 Filipino businessmen that 99% of Filipinos are waiting for a telephone line and the remaining 1% for a dial tone. The average Filipino had worst things to say about telecommunications service in the country. Efforts to reform the telecommunications sector, through the introduction of more competition, began in the late 1980s. But it was not until the election of Fidel Ramos as President in 1992 that reform gained full steam. The first Executive Order (E.O.) issued by Ramos on this concern is E.O. 59, mandating interconnection among telecoms providers. Mandating interconnection was necessary to ensure other telcos access to PLDTs network. The second order was E.O. 109, entitled Policy to Improve the Provision of Local Exchange Carrier Service, with the objective of improving telephone service in rural/underserved areas. Ramos EOs set the stage for the end of PLDT monopoly and allowed competitors in the telecommunications market. In 1995, the Telecommunications Act of the Philippines formally set into place the policy for competition and deregulation of the telecommunications sector. Given PLDT s dominant status, it is not surprising that a PLDT subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone Company (Piltel), was the first company that was granted authority to deliver cellular mobile telephone service. Piltel began operations in The second company to provide cellular services was Express Telecommunications Co. (Extelcom) launched its cellular service in Smart Communications (Smart) started operating in February While all three providers offered analog services they used different proprietary technologies. Isla Communications Inc. (Islacom) launched its GSM cellular service in 1993, while Globe Telecoms (Globe) introduced its GSM-based service in Consumers quickly snapped up analog phones with Piltel and Smart emerging as the dominant cellular service providers. But analog s dominance did not last. Problems related to cloning and poor billing by service providers boosted the shift to second generation or digital cellular phone technologies. Piltel introduced CDMA while Smart joined Isla and Globe in the GSM camp. GSM emerged as the winner as it was the only system with SMS capability. 1 By the second quarter of 2004, mobile teledensity is estimated at 27.77%, a far cry from the 2.37 mobile teledensity in By one estimate, mobile teledensity would reach 35-40% in The shift to digital technology and the brutal competition for market share also led to consolidation in the cellular marketplace (as well as in the telecoms sector in general). Smart acquired Piltel when First Pacific (the owners of Smart) acquired PLDT. Globe and Isla merged. From five players there are now only two dominant cellular services providers in the country: 1 Napoleon Nazareno, The Philippine Experience: The Messaging Revolution, speech during the Mobile Messaging Latin America conference, 25 September 2002, Miami, Florida, MS, 2 D Laarni A. Ortiz Wireless service far from saturation despite new player Business World: Special Report on the Telecommunications Industry May 31, 2004, p Ibid. 2
3 Smart/Piltel (with 54% of the market) and Globe/Isla. In the middle of 2003 a new cellular phone provider Sun Cellular entered the fray offering lower priced SMS and voice service. SMS was introduced in 1994 as a free service. Nobody expected that SMS would change the way Filipinos communicate. In 2000, cellular service providers caused a huge uproar among subscribers when they began charging for SMS use. In the end, cellular service providers were able to levy a charge on SMS but consumer activism ensured that the prices were reasonable. Person to Person (P2P) messaging accounts for 80% of Smart s mobile data revenues. 4 Given P2P s popularity (and profitability), both Globe and Smart have introduced new services to help boost this business. Globe has launched its Globe XTM (Extra Long Message) service where its subscribers can send and receive messages via short messaging service (SMS) and using their GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) capable phones. For its part, Smart inked a deal with America Online Inc. that would allow Smart s subscribers to send instant messages to any ICQ subscriber around the world using their mobile phones. SMS has become an important source of revenue for Philippine telecommunications companies. In 2003, Smart s non-voice service accounted from about 40% of its revenues. On the other hand, 35% of Globe s revenues for the same year came from non-voice service. 5 In 2002, Smart s revenue from wireless data services (which include all SMS and text-related services as well as value-added services) was P12.2 billion (representing 37% of revenue). 6 Basic SMS accounted for 79% of data revenue in the same year. Data accounts for a smaller percentage of Globe s revenue. It accounts for only 33% of total wireless net revenue in 2002 (up from 21% in 2001). 7 As was noted in a recent report: The two Philippine giants surpassed Japanese players NTT DoCoMo, KDD and Vodafone in terms of maximizing revenues from non-voice services. The three Japanese telecom players booked between 20 and 25% of revenues from data services. (O)ther mobile players suing GSM technology derived close to 15 percent to 20% of turnover from non-voice operations 8 Cellular phone companies are also the profit leaders of the telcos that they are affiliated with (Smart and Piltel is owned by PLDT and Globe also has a landline business Globelines). Globe s wireless service revenues accounted for 90% of its net operating service revenues of P million in the first 4 Nazareno, The Philippine Experience:The Messaging Revolution 5 Clarissa S. Batino Smart, Globe lead international mobile phone players Philippines Daily Inquirer May 21, 2004, B7 6 PLDT Full Year 2002 Financial and Operating Results, March 25, 2003 Power Point presentation in viewed April Globe Telecom's 3rd Qtr 2002 SEC Report in Investor Relations Section of Globe website accessed 20 December Batino Smart, Globe lead international mobile phone players, B7 3
4 quarter of Meanwhile, Smart accounted for P16.12b of PLDT s P16.88b consolidated net revenue for SMS is so popular that telephone companies have been trying to generate more revenues for their wired business by giving landlines the capability to send and receive text messages. In 2001, the two leading telcos (PLDT and Globe) introduced texting from landlines. In PLDT s case, the initial foray into texting from landlines resulted in 300,000 subscribers who used the service once a month. 11 In 2003, PLDT relaunched its landline texting service using handsets with SMS capabilities. This new service, called Hype, is targeted at the youth market and is expected to draw 600,000 subscribers and earn P1b in 5 years. 12 Multimedia Message Service (MMS)--which adds still images, voice-, audio- or video clips, and presentation information to the text messages was introduced in Globe has a service that allows MMS photos taken from cell phones to be printed and delivered to the customer. Smart has introduced its Addict Mobile service. It targets the youth with high purchasing power (no prepaid service is available) and offers exclusive multimedia content and the ability to access a wide range of data services (value-added services) like MMS and general packet radio service (GPRS). But MMS uptake will depend on affordable tariff for MMS-related services. A mid-2003 study suggests that the current European price of $0.40 per message caters only to the business market, and only when the price hits $0.17 per message in 2007 will adoption of the technology rise. 13 Given the higher standards of living in Europe, the price point for mass adoption of MMS in the Philippines would be much lower. Furthermore, issues related to their GPRS network, reasonably priced handsets, and interconnection have to be resolved. 9 Globe Telecoms QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 17 OF THE SECURITIES REGULATION CODE AND SRC RULE 17(2)(b) THEREUNDER p.4 Investor Relations section, Globe Telecoms website viewed May 14, Clarissa Batino PLDT sees P18-B net profit in 04 Philippiine Daily Inquirer 20 Feb 2004, B1 11 Telco Giant Hypes Landline Texting Metropolitan Computer Times April 14, 2003 p Ibid. 13 Pricing MMS in Europe 4 June 2003 in viewed 6 June
5 II SMS in BUSINESS It would be very difficult for Filipinos to imagine going back to a life without cell phones and text messaging. For most Filipinos, the mobile phone is not just a fashion statement or a communication device; it is constitutive of their identity. 14 The cell phone has made new relationships possible: TV and Cable shows devoted to SMS chat are frequented by people looking for txtmates. Texting has also reproduced traditional ties in expanded circumstances. Keeping in touch with wives working as domestics in HK or husbands who are deployed in the Middle East had never been easier or cheaper. The cell phone has also made exploring sexuality easier and less dangerous. But the cellular phone service is a business and as such, cellular phone service providers are zealous to increase revenue and profitability. And ensuring that the cell phone is at the center of a new Filipino lifestyle seems like a good road to continued profitability. TARGETTING THE YOUNG R U 1 of us? asks the Globe advertisement that glorifies young Filipinos who are part of GenTXT (text generation). The younger sector of the population is a logical marketing target of the cellular service providers as it is the spear point of the digital revolution in the country. Cellular service providers are aiming to increase profitability by promoting a hip lifestyle centered on the cell phone. Cellular operators regularly tie up with movie distributors to promote movies and boost ring tones and logo downloads. Smart tied up with Sony s Columbia Pictures to promote the movie Spiderman. Globe has a tie-up with Disney that allowed its subscribers to download Disney logos, text cards and ring tones. At P15.00 (US$0.25) per download, Smart admits to having built a healthy business selling ring tones and logos over the air. 15 They also tie up with popular musical entertainers (Smart co-sponsors musical events like Jason Mranz in concert) or with cosmetics companies (Globe and Avon) Entertainment and lifestyle services, such as music downloads, have also been introduced. Smart Cinema Club is an SMS service allowing subscribers to receive information about the latest movies, download logos and ring tones, win tickets to premiere showings and movie passes. The Cinema Club incorporates several types of value-added services, accessible via one access number 239: Movie Information on Demand, Movie Logos, Movie E- 14 Raul Pertiera, et. Al., Txt-ing Selves: Cellphones and Philippine Modernity (Manila: De La Salle Univeristy Press, 2002). 15 Nazareno, The Philippine Experience 5
6 Cards/Picture Messages, Movie Ringtones, Movie Calendar, and Movie SMS Games Touch Mobile, the low-end brand of Globe, offers Home Info Text Service which provides useful expert tips for the whole family. The service offers information on Family Care (child care tips, health tips, etc), Family Entertainment (movie & TV schedules, vacation tips), Recipes, Daily Guide (Spiritual, Horoscopes, and Dream Interpretation), First Aid, News and Info, Job Openings (local job openings, POEA Info), Directory (Fire, Policy, Hospital, etc), Fun and Games (Tones, Icons, Handypet), and Messaging (Instant Messaging, Mobile Mail). Cellular service providers have also married the Filipino obsession with celebrities and a chance to win money. For instance, Touch Mobile has Star Pal. Fans that enroll in the service receive regular updates from their favorite stars and can send questions to their favorite star or ask about them from publicists and entertainment gossip columnists. While subscription is free (in fact a free Ring tone is thrown in as a sweetener), the texter is charged P2.50 per message. Subscribers to this service also get a chance to win prizes, including cash through a raffle. In mid 2004, the caller ring tunes featuring hit songs, celebrities -- has become the latest hit offering of cellular service providers. TEXT GAMES OR SMS GAMBLING? In 2001, cellular companies hit the jackpot -- text games. Their popularity has made government move towards regulating these games and have sparked outrageous claims about their profitability. A 2002 year-ender report in an IT weekly claimed that Smart and Globe, combined, have earned more than P10 billion since the start of its text games in The first text game was introduced by Smart and is called Text to Millions. 17 Subscribers are asked to register, afterwhich they are sent four trivia questions per day via SMS. Sending answers through text messaging gives the participant a chance to win a million pesos. On the average, participants pay P10 to play (at P2.50 per transaction). Globe countered with Txtciting where contestants need to unscramble only one word per day. If they played between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., there were prizes phones and cash to be won every hour. Every text entry (except those that have already won an hourly prize) qualified for the grand draw where 3 million pesos were at stake. The success of these games brought on other text games. 16 Alex Villafania Text Games: Gaming or Entertainment? Metropolitan Computer Times December 2, 2002, p.7 17 Michael Anthony Mapa Text-based fun and games INQ7.net Feb. 22, subsequent discussion is also based on this article viewed on 8 January
7 But it is not only cellular companies that sponsor promotions and text games. imgame, a mobile value-added content provider (M-VAS), has a text game with the same name which runs on both Smart and Globe networks. imgame participants get three questions per day from a category they choose. Participants who answer correctly are eligible for the weekly draw where there are three one-million jackpots. Like in other text games, participants pay about P10 to play imgame. Buy and Text (BNT) is an SMS version of the raffle. 18 Three million pesos were at stake every week to lucky patrons of selected products. Consumers of selected brands of seasonings, canned meat, sanitary napkins, tissue paper, soap and shampoo join the raffle by sending the BNT code via text to a specific number. The number of entries is dependent on the price of the purchased product. If an entry is worth P5.00, then a P15 products entitles a consumer to three raffle entries. The group behind BNT reports that their data center receives 200,000 to 500,000 messages a day, with volume increasing during weekends. For producers of consumer goods, an SMS-raffle eliminates the need to install and pick up drop boxes. Despite its cost of P2.50 per text message, SMS raffles offers consumers the convenience of not looking for drop boxes for their raffle entries. SMS game developers enter into a revenue sharing scheme, where the network provider gets anywhere from 65-70% of the P2.50 paid for every transaction. In some instances, the content provider negotiates a straight fee to be paid to cellular companies for the use of their networks. In Smart s Text to Millions, of the P2.50 charged per transaction P1.00 went to Smart for the use of its network and the P1.50 went to the content provider. Some text games are also developed with television companies (more on this later). The attraction of these text games is the prize money. This has led the state gaming agency Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation or PAGCOR to allege that these text games are forms of gambling and not simply sales promotion. And because these are games of chance, they fall under PAGCOR s regulatory supervision Whether gambling or sales promotions, text gaming has caught the fancy of a people living in uncertain times. It has also been profitable for cellular phone companies, game developers and television stations. SMS TV While many have predicted the emergence of interactive TV through the marriage of the Internet and the broadcasting industry, in the Philippines (as well as Europe) interactive TV was made possible by SMS. Central to the concept SMS TV is the idea of enabling the viewer to express opinion and 18 viewed on 28 April
8 communicate emotion activities that engage and encourage the evolution of an on-screen community. 19 A new feature of TV programming in the Philippines is the SMS chat channel. Chat channels function as electronic billboards where texters broadcast greetings and other messages. ABC Channel 5, a free-to-air channel, has a chat feature in a prime time program. Net 25 runs a chat show during the day. GMA Channel 7 the strong second in the broadcast industry has a chat show after midnight called Txtube. In Metro Manila, there are three cable TV channels Cable Café, LinkTV, and PinoyCentral devoted to chat. In 2003 Channel 13, Channel 13 airs The Game Channel billed as mobile TV gaming arcade and is reputedly the first in Asia. 20 This twice a week one hour show allows cell phone users to play with each other in the games offered by the show. These games include Wacky Golf, Text Trivia, The Katapult, Cross Text, Search Text and Bumper Cars. For instance, in Bumper Cars up to 24 participants, who pay P6.00 per text, play in this version of demolition derby. 21 In 2004, the show (renamed Game Channel Extreme) moved to a different channel and now airs everyday for 30 minutes. ABS CBN, the country s dominant broadcasting group, has incorporated texting in most of its shows. Texting is part of variety shows, sitcoms, soaps and talk shows. In all of them, there are prices to be won for texting. GMA first used SMS in its public affairs show called Debate. The show has Debatext that allows viewers to express their views/sides to an issue by texting in their votes to the given poll question of the night. Its success has spurred the station to include SMS in other shows. In early 2003, these include: SIS, Startalk, Digital LG Quiz, Laro-Laro Sinta Teledrama Promo. 22 By Feb 2004, GMA has 13 shows with SMS promos. 23 Laro Laro Sinta was an interactive proof-of-purchase promo with Jollibee a Philippine fast food chain a la McDonald s. Laro Laro Sinta was an SMS-based game which viewers can play by watching the four GMA primetime soaps (Ikaw Lang Ang Mamahalin, Ang Iibigin Ay Ikaw, Sana Ay Ikaw Na Nga and Kung Mawawala Ka) and answering the question flashed after every show. Viewers have to text in their answers together with the Jollibee Code found in each Jollibee receipt. A winner was drawn daily for each show. At stake in the grand draw is P100, Texters without a Jollibee Code can still win, albeit the price money is smaller. During its run, this promotion generated 100, ,000 text messages a day at P2.50 per text Jason Doplito More than a lifestyle gadget Philippine Daily Inquirer 29 January 2003, p. D viewed 16 February viewed 5 January viewed 17 February Interview with Dingdon Caharian, Assistant Vice President, GMA New Media, Quezon City, 27 Feb
9 But the mother of all text game shows is ABS CBN s Game K N B?, hosted by the controversial daughter of former President Cory Aquino. It was the industry s first interactive game show using SMS and in its original format was a top-rating TV show. 25 Television viewers who wished to become a home partner in this game show download an ABS-CBN icon. They then send via SMS a six-letter combination of the letters from the show's complete title. Those who send the correct six-letter combination for the day become the home partner of the studio contestant. 26 In its prime Game K N B? was said to have received more than a million text entries SMS per show. 27 Game K N B was created by ABS-CBN Interactive a unit of the ABS CBN group of member. It was incorporated in 1999 and its initial efforts were focused on the Internet. 28 ABS-CBN Interactive only broke even in December 2001 and became profitable in 2002 because of SMS. 29 Its SMS revenues grew from less than P10m in Nov 2001 to about P40m in March 2002 (or a growth of 347%). 30 Of this, 20% come from chat applications, 25% from download of logos and ring tones, and 55% from text games. 31 In one year, ABS-CBN interactive has seen 8 million unique subscribers sending text messages to various TV shows. While most of SMS games are produced by ABS-CBN Interactive inhouse, the unit is now beginning to outsource some game development. This is attributed to the short shelf life of games. ABS-CBN has a revenue sharing arrangement with both Globe and Smart, where as application and content provider it gets about 30% of the P2.50 charged the user per transaction. Like other text games, there is an average of four transactions per ABS-CBN text game. The ABS-CBN Group of Companies was reportedly kept afloat during a period of advertising slump by SMS games and related promotions. In the first nine months of 2002, ABS-CBN experienced a 12% decline in gross airtime revenues. The 25% growth in sales reported by ABS-CBN Interactive in the first 9 months of 2002 helped stem the decline in ABS CBN group s consolidated revenues Interview with Carlo Katigbak, Managing Director, ABS-CBN Interactive, Quezon City, 10 Jan The show has changed in format in late What is discussed is the show s original format. 26 The show claims to give the biggest prizes among all TV game shows. If no texter gets the correct combination for the day, consolation prizes are given. 27 Weegink, CMG presentation in SMS Meets TV 28 Interview with Ria Ferro, former Managing Director, ABS-CBN Interactive, Alabang, Muntinglupa City, 19 December Interview with Carlo Katigbak 30 ABS-CBN presentation before CLSA Investor Forum, May 2002 in // viewed 10 Jan Interview with Carlo Katigbak 32 Geoffrey P. Ramos, TV companies find rich revenue stream in SMS Computerworld Philippines December 2, viewed 20 Dec Revenues from ABS-CBN Publishing and Star Records also helped. 9
10 The importance of SMS revenue is also to be seen in GMA the strong second in the industry. Computerworld Philippines estimated that GMA earns at least P3 million every week from SMS related activities. 33 This estimate was reached after conservatively assuming that GMA earns P1.00 for every SMS hit or message it receives every week. (SMS messages to GMA are charged anywhere from P2.50 to P15, depending on which SMS application is used.) Of its total revenue from SMS, about 15% comes from Public Affairs shows and the rest (85%) from entertainment. 34 Half of the entertainment SMS revenue comes from games. SMS is no silver bullet. GMA tried to keep viewers tuned to its shows by introducing an SMS promo called Beauty Rest. 35 The promo used text games to keep housewives tuned to Channel 7 shows. Beauty tips are solicited via SMS from TV viewers during SIS a top-rating morning talk show. Four beauty tips are chosen and the winners get P500 worth of prepaid cards for their cell phones. The beauty tips are then shown in four other shows Monica Brava, Pirapirasong Pangarap, Salome and Adriana. In each show, a different word in the beauty tip is highlighted. Viewers who watch the four shows and are able to catch the highlighted word in each featured beauty tip can text in at least three of these words for a chance to win P10,000 each week. However, Channel 7 discovered that the chance of winning a prize through its SMS promo cannot keep viewers glued to shows they do not find interesting. Currently, ABS CBN s Magandang Tanghali Bayan Ang Saya-Saya is trying to lure viewers by offering free cell phone credits. It remains to be seen if ABS- CBN s experience would be different from GMA s. CORPORATE SMS SMS for the corporate world was launched in Globe is offering five SMS-based services for the corporate market. 36 TxtConnect allows companies to send high-volume text broadcasts to pre-registered recipients. ServDirect provides order handling through an SMS solution connected to a client s inventory system. TxtHotline is a service that extends a company s call center services to allow two-way, real-time text messaging between the company s call center agents and its customers. CorpChat is an instant messaging system that allows corporate workers to exchange messages either through their mobile phone or through a computer terminal using the CorpChat software. WorkMobile allows employees to access their corporate using their mobile phones. Smart has its corporate text messaging service which is a web-based text messaging system that allows recipients to reply to the text message originating from the cell phone. Messages will immediately be displayed on the device, whether PC or cell phone. 33 Ibid 34 Interview with Dingdon Caharian, GMA New Media 35 Ibid 36 Geoffrey P. Ramos Globe offers new SMS solutions corporate mart IT Netcentral viewed 29 January
11 The jury is still out on the ability of SMS-based services to penetrate the business market. And SMS has competitors in this space. Smart is introducing Blackberry handsets in the Philippines. While Blackberry will run on GSM/GPRS network and would support SMS, its appeal to the corporate sector would be Blackberry s own applications. Even Globe has its Mobil service, which allows users to access corporate applications and . Another competitor to SMS in the Philippine business space is iden (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) technology which integrates previously disparate features such as digital two-way radio, wireless telephone and messaging. In the Philippines, NextMobile which uses iden seeks to become the preferred provider of communications solutions to business, particularly industries and vertical segments (including) the wholesale and retail trade, construction, transportation, manufacturing, and government services. 37 But there is already evidence that Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and entrepreneurs have benefited greatly from the introduction of cell phones and SMS. A study of ICT use by SMEs in three Philippine cities reveals that 72% of SMEs who have cell phones use SMS for business purposes. 38 SMS has allowed beach resorts like Villa Arcadia (located in Talisayan town in Mindanao about 880 kilometers south of Manila), which has no reservation office, no web site, no fixed-line phone or internet access, to accept reservations from customers beyond the town. Weekend getaways near the Metro Manila area like Antonio s, a garden restaurant in the mountain city of Tagaytay, 45k south of Manila receive inquiries and reservations from customers via SMS. Fish traders in Mindoro (an island off the main island of Luzon) use their cell phones and SMS to check prices in various municipalities to determine where to sell their products. A fish trader relates: When cell phones were unheard of, we had to travel long distances and negotiate through bad roads. And if these weren t enough, at the end of the journey, we often see ourselves at the mercy of middlemen and vendors in the market. They could easily sense that we were desperate to sell our goods even at a lower price. We were never prepared in case the price of fish goes down 39 Cut flower producers in La Trinidad, Benguet (250 km North of Manila) use SMS to communicate with flower vendors in Manila to determine demand and regulate their supply accordingly. SMARTER MONEY? Emmanuel Lallana, Patricia Pascual and Zorayda Andam SMEs and ecommerce in Three Philippine Cities p. 28 in viewed 24 January Mio F. Cusi Wireless Farmers: Some Advantages and Some Reality-checks MARID Agribusiness Digest April 2003, p. 9 11
12 In 2002, 44% of mobile phone users worldwide would like to use their mobile phones for small cash transactions but only two percent have done so. 40 A number of efforts are underway in the Philippines to roll out m- payment (mobile payment) systems. The country admittedly presents a unique challenge to any m-payment solution. It has three negatives features: (1) low credit card penetration; (2) even lower debit card penetration; and (3) preponderance of pre-paid cellular phone accounts. SMART Money and PaySetter take different routes to promote the use of mobile phone-linked debit cards. The SMART Money is a pre-paid re-loadable payment card linked to the SMART cell phone and the Master Card electronic payment system. Cardholders simply load their SMART Money card with cash value by debiting their personal bank accounts through SMART's Mobile Banking Service (MBS) or over-the-counter loading at selected merchants. Once loaded, the SMART Money Card is then processed and accepted for payment transactions in any MasterCard affiliated merchant with Electronic Terminals, like any other debit card. SMART Money solves the payments problem in m-commerce by leveraging on the pre-existing telecoms network (SMART Communications) and e-payment system (MasterCard). Smart Money was cited by the GSM Association as Most Innovative GSM Wireless Service for Customers in It was also honored with the Best Product Innovation award at the MasterCard Marketing Awards during the MasterCard Asia/Pacific 2001 Annual Meeting. PaySetter is an open, secure and adaptable mobile Person-to-Person payment solution. 41 It enables person-to-person transfer of funds, reloading of pre-paid cards for mobile phones, bills payments (not only for one s bills but also for another person) and cross-border remittance service. PaySetters claims that its advantage over SMART Money is that its system does not require SIM card replacement nor software upgrades for mobile phones. PaySetter s strategic partners are Globe, Banco de Oro a leading commercial bank, and SM the largest retailer in the country. Each Paysetter transaction costs P2.50, and the company has a revenue sharing deal with Globe. Smart Money and PaySetter represents different ways of achieving a critical mass of users and merchants willing to use mobile phone reloadable debit card. Smart Money is leveraging the MasterCard brand and payment infrastructure to ensure merchant acceptability. On the other hand, PaySetter will be leveraging its retail giant partner SM for mass acceptability percent of mobile phone users want to use phones for cash transactions March in ecommerce News viewed 12 May Interview with Gia Villondo, Marketing Manager, Paysetter, Makati City, 20 Dec
13 Unfortunately, both efforts have not gained widespread usage despite being in the market for at least a year. RemitCard is a new company offering what claims to be the world s first SMS-based remittance card. Among those who are expected to benefit from such service are overseas workers sending money to their beneficiaries in their home countries, charitable organizations printing their own series of RemitCards with promotions for donations via the card, and sellers of products and services in a local country but where the buyer is in a foreign country or a different location. 42 Under their model, one could purchase a RemitCard--which are sold in retail outlets in different denominations--and text the PIN found in the card to RemitCard s server. The RemitCard s servers then routes the necessary information to the its partners server for payment to the intended beneficiary. The company s initial offering is the SMS-based donation system. 43 Individuals can now send contributions to the Haribon Foundation, World Vision, Tahanang Walang Hagdan and Jesuit Volunteers by purchasing any of these four NGO s RemitCards and texting the required information to a specified number. RemitCard, which was launched in December 2003, intends to work with airlines, gift certificate facilitators and insurance firms to boost SMS m- Commerce in the country. 44 But there may be an unlikely winner in mobile payment systems. Since its introduction, the prepaid cell phone credit popularly known as load is becoming a new form of currency. Already some parents give prepaid cell phone cards as part of their children s allowance. Services are already being performed in exchange for load. In late 2003, both Smart and Globe introduced services that allow their respective subscribers to transfer mobile phone credits directly to another subscriber in the same network. 45 Parents are now able to top up the credits of their children from their own phones. Friends are able to give or lend each other phone credits to send SMS messages or make phone calls. With over-the-air credit exchange between users, load is well on its way to becoming popular currency in Local firm introduces SMS-based remittance service 44 Asia's mcommerce Market Lures Solutions Firms AsiaBizTech, 45 Globe calls is service Share-a-Load, while Smart calls it Pasa-load ( Pass-a-Load) 13
14 III FROM e- TO m-government e-government has been defined as the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government (underscoring supplied). 46 It is seen not only as enhancing the effectiveness of governments but also empowering citizens. e-government is said to have three main domains: (1) eadministration which deals particularly with improving the internal workings of the public sector; (2) ecitizens and eservices which deal particularly with the relationship between government and citizens, either as voters/stakeholders from whom the public sector should derive its legitimacy, or as customers who consume public services; and (3) esociety or initiatives on the relationship between public agencies and other institutions, including improving the interaction between government and business, building the social and economic capacities and capital of local communities, and creating organisational groupings to achieve economic and social objectives. 47 e-government is being embraced by governments world wide. According to the 2003 UN Global E-government Survey, In 2001, the UN E-government Survey listed 143 member states as using the Internet in some capacity; by 2003, 91% or 173 out of 191 member states had web presence. 48 But it is not only the Internet that is being used widely. The use of mobile devices in governance has also become popular. m-government m-government is the use of mobile and/or wireless technologies like cellular phones, and laptops and PDAs with wireless Internet connection to improve the operations of government and to empower the citizens. The advantage of m-government is that it makes public information and government services available anytime, anywhere to citizens and officials. Already, mobile devices are being used to improve communication between government and citizens, enable citizen transactions with government, and as a form of electronic voting. Mobile devices are also being used to enhance the internal operations of the bureaucracy Richard Heeks in 48 UN Global E-government Survey, 2003 in World Public Sector Report 2003: E-Government at the Crossroads (New York: United Nations, 2003) p. 142 downloaded from 14
15 Improving communication between government and citizens In an environment where landline penetration is low and internet access is uncommon, cellular phones and SMS provide an important access channel for governments to reach the citizens (G2C) and vice versa (C2G). In Singapore, citizens can sign up to receive SMS alerts for a variety of e- services such as renewal of road tax, passport renewal notifications, and season parking reminders. In the UK, the London police have included text messaging to their terrorist-alert pager system. SMS have also been used in emergency broadcasting. At the height of the SARS incident, the Hong Kong government sent a blanket text message to 6m mobile phones in a bid to scotch fears emanating from rumors about intended government action to stem the disease. SMS is also a channel for citizens to communicate with government (C2G). In China, the 150 million mobile phone owners can now send SMS to the 2,987 deputies of the National People's Congress. m-transactions and m-payments SMS and other mobile devices also enable transactions between citizens and government. Norway s tax collectors have introduced SMS tax returns. Taxpayers who have no changes to make to the form mailed to them can simply send a text message instead of returning the form by mail. This new service would benefit an estimated 1.5 million Norwegian taxpayers who normally return the income tax form by mail. In Finland, SMS tickets can be used for Helsinki's public transport system. SMS Tickets can be ordered by sending a text message and the user is billed through his or her regular mobile phone bill. The public transport ticket is also delivered to the commuter by SMS. m-voting m-voting or the use of SMS and mobile devices for decision making is an m-government application with tremendous potential to enhance democratic participation. In UK, voting via SMS had been used for local elections. And these experiments with electronic voting, including voting via cell phones, are meant to discover more convenient ways to re-involve citizens in public life. But several concerns would have to be attended to before voting over cell phones gains widespread acceptance. Questions of security and secrecy are on top of these concerns. The other issue is to make the system as user-friendly as possible. If Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) are used, chances are, many would forget their PINs if they are too long. Then there is the problem of using a phone keypad to key in names of political parties or candidates. Finally, the voting procedure itself must allow at any stage to repeat the instructions and choices. A number of local elections in the UK have used SMS voting in addition to other forms of electronic voting. 15
16 Improving Government Operation m-government also provides many efficiency opportunities for the internal operation of government bodies. It can provide a seamless environment for government employees to stay connected from any device. Upto-date government-to-employee (G2E) information and services can be provided at any time, whether the data they need is on the Internet, on their network, or on any other device under their control. It is important to point out that m-government is not a replacement for egovernment. While mobile devices are excellent access devices, most of them, particularly mobile phones, are not suitable for the transmission of complex and voluminous information. Despite the emergence of more sophisticated handsets, mobile phones do not have the same amount of features and services as PC-based Internet applications. For example, SMS limits messages to 160 characters, whereas allows almost a nearly infinite quantity of characters and multimedia content. Even PDAs or Pocket PCs that support e- mail have display and other limitations. Internet-connected PCs are still the preferred device to take part in chats, to place their own opinion in discussion forums, or to exchange political statements by using the activities that are important in empowering the citizenry. e-government and m-government in the Philippines In the Philippines, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance the internal operations of government can be dated to 1971 with the establishment of the National Computer Center (NCC). NCC s fundamental functions were to provide information bases for integrated planning and implementation of development programs and operational activities in the government. 49 But e-government as the transformation of relationship between government and its citizens as a result of the widespread use of ICT was not possible until ICTs became inexpensive and used widely. In its latter form, e-government emerged in the late 1990s with the commercialization of the Internet, the telecommunications liberalization, and the cell phone and SMS explosion. The recent mandate for e-government in the Philippines was provided by Republic Act 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Law. Passed on June 14, 2000, the e-commerce Law addresses the many significant legal and policy challenges of fully engaging in e-commerce in the country. The law gives validity and legal recognition to electronic documents, electronic signatures and electronic transactions. It also facilitates the admission of electronic documents and electronic signatures as evidence in case of disputes. The ecommerce law also specifically directed government agencies to accept electronic documents and to issue permits, licenses or certificates of registration or approval, or provide for the method and manner of payment of fees in electronic forms by
17 Another document that guides e-government implementation in the country is the Government Information Systems Plan (GISP). GISP was adopted as framework and guide for all computerization efforts in government in July 2000 via Executive Order 265. Its goal is to make government more accessible to the citizenry. It prescribes policies to improve the capacities of government institutions to implement e-government projects, as well as the strategies for the integrated and coordinated development, rational procurement and deployment of ICT resources in government. This being the Philippines, there is a big difference between the plan and its implementation. For one, there was not a dedicated fund for e-government until recently. And the funds available (before the creation of the e- Government plan in 2003) were not spent strategically. In the 2003 UN study of e-government among member-states, the Philippines ranked no. 4 (behind Singapore, Korea, and Japan) in the South and Eastern Asia region in the Global e-readiness Ranking. Its index rating of puts it ahead of Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia and China. 50 The UN study also observed that content-wise, the Philippines (together with Chile, Mexico, Singapore, Estonia, Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Malta and Turkey) has made much faster and more effective progress in their e-government programs than some of the industrialized countries (underscoring in the original). 51 The Philippines also rated very high in the Web Measure Index (no. 7) and in the e- Participation Index (no. 6). The one area of e-government where the Philippines is arguably a world leader is in m-government. Half (50%) of the 26 Departments and Commissions of the national government that were surveyed by the Congressional Oversight Committee on e-commerce have SMS-based services. 52 These SMS-based services give citizens an easy and inexpensive way to bring their concerns to government. They are also a new channel for citizens to secure information from government a non-trivial issue for those who have to transact with the bureaucracy. SMS-based services have become a new channel for Filipinos to reach government. Citizens who used to send (snail) mail and telegrams to the President, now have a new channel to bring their concerns to the highest official of the land TXTGMA. Oversees Filipino workers and their relatives in the Philippines can seek assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs through TXTDFA. SMS is also being used to encourage Filipinos to help in the battle against crime. The government, through the Department of Interior and Local 50 UN Global E-government Survey, 2003 in World Public Sector Report 2003: E-Government at the Crossroads (New York: United Nations, 2003) downloaded from 51 Ibid., p Emmanuel Lallana and Suharni Samanodi State of egovernment in the Philippines, 2003/4 MS 17
18 Government (DILG), has a centralized emergency and crime reporting service called Text 117. Metro Manila residents could report crimes and emergencies, as well as send complaints about abusive law enforcement officials, by sending text messages to 117. It is also in the service of protecting the environment. Citizens can bring their concerns to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through the Service project. An NGO in partnership with the Land Transportation Office encourages citizens to report smoke-belching vehicles via SMS. SMS is also deployed in public health service. During the SARS epidemic, the Department of Health (DOH) established the DOH SARS Hotline for people who want to know more about the disease or send a report about it. Aside from serving as a complaint mechanism, the Department of Education s DETxt and the Civil Service Commission s TXTCSC are also efforts to use SMS to improve internal operation of government. However, SMS is not being deployed in a number of critical areas. There are no SMS-based applications for m-transactions and m-payments. Furthermore, using SMS for voting has not been explored in the Philippines. In sum, while the Philippines receives high marks for encouraging citizen activism, there are a still a number of important SMS applications, which could make it more convenient for citizens to do business with government and enhance citizen participation, that are not even considered. It is also worrying that there seems to be no government-wide m- Government strategy. At present, each agency develops its own application as it sees fit. There is also no portal for all these services. Already, citizens who are interested in wirelessly connecting with their government are being asked to remember many numbers. This may lead to confusion and frustration. m-government in the Philippines has proven wrong the belief that citizens are unwilling to pay for government services. Filipinos are not only paying to get basic information needed to deal with the bureaucracy, the are also willing to spend to bring their concerns before the appropriate officials. The Philippine experience with m-government also puts to rest the idea that all e-government projects are necessarily expensive. m-government projects have turned out to be inexpensive to deploy and to run. There are at least three different m-government business models being used in the Philippines. The first is agency managed model. The SMS-based service, while developed with the help of the cellular service provider, is managed by the national government agency. The advantage of this approach is that senders 18
19 are charged the lowest price for a text message sent to government (P1.00 within the same network). Another model is public-private cooperation. The Office of the President s SMS-based service was developed in cooperation with dominant cellular service provides Smart and Globe. These two service providers bought the computers and set up the local area network for TXTGMA. They also provide free cellular services (three lines each) to the project. However, the day-to-day operations of TXTGMA is the responsibility of the Office of the President. Another variant of this model is TXTUSOK, where a non-government organization or NGO (Bantay Kalikasan) developed and runs the service and simply provides the results to a government agency (Land Transportation Office). Like the agency managed model, the cost to the sender is P1.00. The third is the outsourcing model. As practiced by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the SMS-based service was developed, deployed and run by a Wireless Application Service Provider (WASP). While it completely frees the agency of the responsibility to manage the technical aspect of this service, the cost to the citizen is higher (P2.50 per message). 19
20 IV m-government IN THE PHILIPPINES: A CLOSER LOOK Of all the modes available for citizens to reach the President letters, telegrams, fax or , none is as easy, accessible and inexpensive as SMS. With the introduction of the TXTGMA service in 2001, Filipinos all over the world are able to bring theirs concerns directly to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 53 And this is exactly what two Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia did in late On Sept 8, 2003, the Office of the President received a text message from two Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia complaining about maltreatment. After securing their particulars, Malacanang referred the matter to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for appropriate action. On Sept 12, the DFA wrote the Office of the President informing the latter that the matter was referred to the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia. On November 18, 2003, DFA sent another letter to the Office of the President informing the latter of the action taken by the Labor Attaché in Saudi Arabia regarding the two OFWs and gave reassurance that the Philippine Embassy would continue to monitor the fate of the said Filipinos. TXTGMA also confirmed that Filipinos bring all sorts of concerns to their President. The Chief Executive is expected to intervene in issues like the proliferation of illegal drugs in a small town in a rural province. On April 23, 2003, TXTGMA received a complaint about rampant drug abuse in Lumban, Laguna. A referral letter was sent by TXTGMA to the Philippine National Police on April 26. Three months later, on July 18, 2003, PNP reported to the Office of the President on action taken as a result of the text message, including the arrest of pushers on May and other police activities against illegal drug activities in June in the concerned municipality. TXTGMA, a pioneer in the use of SMS in government, receives messages on everything related to government. Most of the text messages are related to new initiatives/programs launched by the President. For instance, when President Arroyo announced that she would reinstate the death penalty, TXTGMA received numerous messages that either support or condemn her stand. Or when the President launched a new scholarship program called Student s Assistance Fund for a Strong Republic) SAFE for SR, many text messages requesting for more information about the program were received. TXTGMA has become a channel for people to inform the President on how they view her latest policy pronouncements or projects. Complaints about government services, projects, and officials are also a staple of TXTGMA message. In 2003, the Government Service Insurance 53 Discussion is based on interview with Ms. Auroroa C. Sabares and Mr. Rey M. Munsod, officials responsible for TXTGMA on Feb 6, 2004 at the Presidential Action Center, Tahanan ng Masa Bldg., San Miguel Manila. 20
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Prosecutors say a Palatine man wanted to lure coyotes with a deer carcass in his backyard and shoot them, but he killed a neighbor's curious German shepherd instead.
"It's a residential neighborhood," said Cmdr. Kurt Schroeder of the Palatine Police Department. "It's a weird case."
A Cook County Circuit Court judge today set bond at $40,000 for Piotr Holy, of the 1100 block of Brockway Street, on charges of aggravated cruelty to an animal, obstructing a police officer, reckless conduct, and unlawful discharge of a firearm, according to Assistant State's Atty. Moe Ahmad.

subset: commoncrawl


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We look forward to hearing from you! Please contact us using the form below. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
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The Appleton Public Library, a member of the Pioneerland Library system, is going green effective May 15, 2013. What does that mean? We are collecting e-mail addresses from our library patrons and sending out overdue notices via e-mail rather than through regular U.S. mail. Please make sure we have the most current e-mail address for you on your next visit to the library.
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As promised, Joe Maddon's band of merry upstarts showed off their questionable sartorial taste prior to the start of their road trip to New York. Video evidence, courtesy of Marc Topkin's The Heater blog:
If I ever called this group a bunch of hipster doofuses, I apologize. Rather, they look more like a group of tween girls at a pajama party. One can only wonder how long it would take them to switch pants.


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|OUMNH Number:
|Name and quarry location:
|Diaspro tenero di Sicilia, from Taormina, Messina, Sicily, Italy
|Geological description:
|A fractured Rosso ammonitico red limestone with prominent stromatactis cavities filled with grey and white calcite. It has stylolites and white calcite-filled veins.
|Corsi says that he has followed Borch's 'Lythologie Sicilienne' (1778) in attributing names and quarry locations to his Sicilian soft jaspers, but not all his locations are mentioned by Borch, nor do descriptions always match. Stromatactis development is much more often seen in Palaeozoic rocks (for example no. 208) than Mesozoic rocks as found in Sicily. However, Neuweiler and Bernoulli (2005) describe a Lower Jurassic stromatactis red limestone from Arzo on the Swiss-Italian borders, where a breccia has long been quarried which is markedly like some of Corsi's Sicilian soft jaspers (see for example 461 and note). It is possible Corsi unwittingly obtained specimens from this other location.
|Borch (1778) 130-161; Corsi (1845) 155-156; Dubarry de Lassale (2005) 290; Evangelista (1998); Montana (1998) 64-68; Price (2007) 150-151
|Further information:
|Corsi's classification:
|Class 1. Marbles; Section 2. Veined marbles; Species 11. Soft jaspers of Sicily
|Corsi's text:
|68.18 Diaspro tenero di Sicilia. Rosso, e bianco di Taormina


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Story Description:
Strang Communications Company|January 15, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-59979-910-0
Operation Jonah is a fictionalized account of the true story of one child's abduction and the community that mobilized to find him and bring him home. Surrounded by escalating violence in Africa, Bible translators Scott and Debra Warrington's worst fears are realized when their 14-month-old adopted son, Dominic, is snatched from their arms. The story makes international headlines, draws attention from heads of states, and sends shockwaves through the Warrington's multi-racial community of friends. Outraged, ordinary people rally together and find themselves pitted against extraordinary opposition: an international crime syndicate, an impotent police force, corrupt officials, and a bitter biological father.
My Review:
A most intriguing story that had me holding my breath! I was so worried for this child that you'd have thought I was the parent whose child had been abducted. It was well-written and thoroughly engaging. I would highly recommend it to anyone.