Has anybody heard about this promo of Red Mobile, a unit of Smart Communications, which offers video and call rates of as low as 50 centavos per minute.  Come to think of it, this rate is even lower than the P1 regular cost of text messages.  

Well, in its publicity campaign, Red Mobile, which is previously available only on the third-generation or 3G network, now offers its service on second-generation or 2G, which means that it will use the nationwide network of Smart Communications for voice and text services. 

Mr. Danilo Mojica, head of Smart's wireless consumer division, said that by expanding the service of Red Mobile to include 2G network using the cell sites of Smart, more people can take advantage of Red Mobile's offering.  Mr. Mojica said only 10 million handsets, representing 15 to 20 percent of the total mobile phones in the Philippines, are 3G capable, while the rest are 2G capable.

Red Mobile is owned by Connectivity Unlimited Resources Inc., which was acquired by Smart in April 2009.  Therefore, Smart now has three brands: Smart, Talk 'N Text and Red Mobile.

Mr. Guido Zaballero, Smart's department head for Red Mobile, said that for as low as P30 load, subscribers can enjoy the country's lowest call rate of 50 centavos per minute, for Red-to-Red voice and video calls.  The SMS rate is also 50 centavos for Red-to-Red and P1 for Red to other networks.  The P30 load has a validity of two days, while a P50 load is good for three days. 

Through its 3G network, Red Mobile also allows video calls between Red Mobile subscribers for only 50 centavos per minute, which is much cheaper than the P6.50 video call rate per minute in other networks.

Red Mobile has only 100,000 subscribers at present, but this number is expected to rise to 500,000 with the launching of its 2G service, according to Mr. Zaballero.