SkyCable tries to shake up local broadband mart with 5-Mbps offer

Employing shock therapy as a way to grab market share, Internet service provider SkyBroadband rolled out on Monday a broadband package that promises 5Mbps at lightning speed for P999 — but with a 15GB data allocation.

Joy Lantin, head for broadband marketing at SkyCable, explains the features of the 5-Mbps offering, which the company formally launched on Monday at the ELJ building in Quezon City.

Like the “unlimited” voice and texting promo that Gokongwei-owned Sun Cellular introduced years back that proved to be a game-changer in the mobile space, the new offering of SkyBroadband is expected to shake things up in the local broadband market due to two reasons: the fast speed at 5 Mbps for just P999 and the data cap of 15GB.

Rodrigo P. Montinola, head of marketing of SkyCable, said in a press briefing that the company had to balance the fast speed requirement of consumers with the technology limitation through data allocation.

However, Montinola said consumers have the option to avail of a “top-up” of P100 per 1GB. A similar 5 Mbps plan, but with a 35GB monthly data allocation, is also available for P1999.

At 15GB, the broadband provider said an Internet user can do any of the following activities at a given time: unlimited access to social networking sites for one whole month, download up to 3,750 songs/25 movies, watch 125 hours of non-stop YouTube clips, or consume 586 hours of VoIP talk time.

Montinola said an internal research done by the company found that 15GB is the average data consumption of an ordinary Internet user. “We think that 15GB is already enough for most Internet users in the country,” he said at a launch event held at the ELJ building in Quezon City.

Like all Internet service packages in the local market, the 5-Mbps offering does not have a guaranteed minimum speed. “We’re still working on that with our current technology,” Montinola said.

The executive added, however, that the company would find a way to comply if the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) would order a minimum speed requirement. The regulatory agency is currently drafting a circular that would mandate a minimum speed for the Internet offerings of local telcos.

SkyBroadband said it is currently the only local service provider that offers 5 Mbps for only P999. For the same price point, competitors are only offering 1 Mbps, it pointed out.

The Lopez-owned firm jolted the market in 2008 when if offered 12mbps when the only maximum speed then was 3 Mbps. In 2010, SkyBroadband again offered the fastest speed at 112mbps, initially available in Rockwell, Makati.

@newsbytes