Last February 20, SMART officially unveiled their latest product in partnership with the Thuraya Telecommunications Company (Thuraya), a mobile satellite services provider. This is the answer of SMART to most of the Filipinos working as OFWs particularly seaman and miners, or simply those who are in the call of duty to places where signals are hard to reach due to calamity and far from the transmitter. SMART now introduced the SatSleeves for iPhone particularly for 5 and 5s models and also for Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy S4.
The said product will be added to the XT stand-alone satellite phone that was introduced last September 2013 for their Marino Phonepal campaign where it will cater over 1,000 vessels and forged deals with over 100 manning agencies, maritime organizations, schools, and training centers.
The three satellite devices offered in a SmartSAT package worth PHP38, 500 each, inclusive of a special satellite SIM with an initial airtime credit load of about $225 or around Php10, 000, valid for one year. Service rate includes voice call from a remote area costs about $0.57 per minute to Smart, Sun and PLDT numbers, and $0.80 per minute to other networks. International calls range from $0.57 to $5.75, depending on the location. On the other hand, SMS service costs $0.23 per message, while data service is charged $0.015 for every 10kb. Contacting the customer care hotline on satellite mode is free of charge. Prepaid load cards will be available to subscribers to maintain the satellite services.
Now with this kind of device available in the consumer market and first from SMART, it will not only cater to the maritime industry but also to those humanitarian and members of media who need in places that sometime network signals are hard due to calamity and devastation. Aside from that for those who works as miners and those who need to be in hard to access remote areas like mountains, etc.
Up to date there’s more than 160 countries or two-thirds of the world, including major sealanes in Asia, New Zealand, Australia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Indian Ocean where the said SMART Sat can be used which for some OFWs it can be an alternative package aside from international roaming. To know more about the Smart Sat, please visit www.smart.com.ph.
