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MANILA – October 28, 2013 – Globe Telecom’s newly-announced Free Facebook offer is a world-first, thanks to the telco’s addressing key issues on mobile internet use in the country, Globe shared in a press release.
Apart from providing its over 36 million subscribers free access to Facebook, Globe is making first-of-its-kind mobile innovations for the best customer experience, the telco said.
Aside from allowing access to Facebook for an initial period of three months at zero data charges, Globe worked with Facebook’s engineers from Silicon Valley to offer customer experience innovations that aim to overcome fear of mobile browsing.
As of June 2013, there are 1.15 billion Facebook users around the world, 819 million of which are monthly active users on mobile while 470 million are daily active users on mobile, Globe said, noting that the Philippines has over 30 million Facebook users. It is alsoone of the top 10 countries in the world with the most number of users of the social networking site.
"Globe knows that to bring the next billion online will require deep collaboration between players across the ecosystem. For the past several years, Globe has been on the forefront of partnering with leading digital players and as a result, brought millions online. Now, with our partnership with Facebook, we are leading the way for carriers globally. With this breakthrough partnership, we will give our 36 million subscribers uninterrupted, seamless and worry-free Free Facebook experience without the need for Wi-Fi," said Peter Bithos, Senior Advisor for Consumer Business at Globe Telecom.
In collaboration with Facebook, Globe has put together innovations that cover key milestones in the customer experience journey such as availability of access on feature phones and smartphones across all Facebook mobile platforms whether via the Facebook app or Facebook’s mobile site m.facebook.com.
However, BlackBerry users are not included in the offer. Free Facebook will soon be available to Nokia Xpress and Opera Mini users, Globe said.
Customers are also guaranteed of no billshock or “nakaw load” as they will be notified if they will incur data charges once a link that leads out of Facebook is clicked, Globe explained.
Subscribers can use a one-click registration to the data plan of choice to continue browsing sites or links outside Facebook without having to leave the site. Also, recommended data plans consider a subscriber’s available prepaid balance and/or megabytes (MB) balance of existing data plan.
Finally, customers without enough prepaid load can “loan” a 10MB data plan for only P10 which will be deducted on their succeeding top-up so they can fully explore content outside Facebook, Globe said.
Bithos said, "This is not just a carrier zero-rating some links. This is deep collaboration between Globe and Facebook for a seamless customer experience to overcome the fear of using mobile internet. This is collaboration at its peak to get more people online and connected with each other around the world.”
Starting October 31, 2013, subscribers can dial *143# and select FREE FB or text FREEFB to 8888 to download more information or access Free Facebook. Subscribers may also go to m.facebook.com/free on the phone’s web browser or open the Facebook mobile app while on the Globe network to access Free Facebook.
