MACTAN Island, Cebu—Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) announced at the 5th Asian Carriers Conference (ACC) here the rollout of its latest multimedia application aimed at merging Web television with several other interactive services.

Called WatchPad, the format is on Beta format and its full service is available for free to all PLDT MyDSL subscribers, Eric Alberto, head of company’s corporate business groups during his presentation at the plenary sessions.

The best feature of the new service is the buffer-time free video streaming which does not require a lot of memory space from personal computers or desktops, unlike in conventional video-sharing sites.

Existing subscribers will only have to register online to gain access into the new PLDT application and watch the eight available free TV and cable channels available, including MTV, CNN, CNBC and Cartoon Network, among others. More channels and applications will soon come into the program as testing and enhancements continue.

The service currently has 3,000 free-trial subscribers.

Developed by a Malaysian firm, the browser-based application combines television channels, a move-on-demand service, a chat room and other Web-based operations. “The young people nowadays spend more time on the Internet,” Dan Ibarra head of PLDT’s retail business group said. He said PLDT will soon introduce premium services like new cable channels and movies-on-demand for a fee together with other enhancements on the application.

Jet Herna, senior manager for product development of PLDT, said the program is still for free and MyDSL subscribers only have to register online to avail of the features. “Customers right now want to do so many things at the same time,” Herna told reporters. The application opens new horizons either to keep existing customers or to entice new subscribers, Ibarra said.

Meanwhile, officials of Globe Telecom see the small- and medium-sized entrepreneur (SME) segment as the next battleground for consolidated yet specific services.

“Their [SME] numbers are really high and as you can see even financial institutions are creating products specifically for this segment,” said Globe Business corporate and SME segments head Manny Aligada. “You will see telcos tapping into these market.”

Aligada said the SME segment is a demanding yet budget-conscious market that demands easy-to-operate and flexible services that can be tailored to their needs.

“Everyone now is connected and you will see the broadband service playing a vital role in this market.”

Globe launched in Cebu City its newest offering for SMEs, the OneCall service, which provides a virtual assistant and a private automatic brand exchange system for the mobile entrepreneur.

The product will connect different Globe mobile numbers as extensions to only one call number. Customers can call this number to get connected to the “extensions” and the mobile phones of company employees and officers.

Aligada said the response for the product more than exceeded expectations and they are still receiving new signups for the seven-day free trial through their website.