SMART Communications, Inc., the wireless arm of PLDT, Inc., announced on Wednesday that it is launching its fifth-generation (5G) roaming services in the United States.
Smart is working with mobile services company AT&T to launch 5G roaming services in the US, the Philippine telco said in an e-mailed statement.
“We are the first Philippine operator to launch a complete roaming pack for our prepaid customers in the United States,” said Alice R. Ramos, vice-president and head of Roaming and Consumer Business at Smart.
“The US is among the top destinations of tourists and migrant Filipinos, and this partnership with AT&T propels us forward in our goal to bring our world-class 5G roaming services to them,” she added.
Smart said it now has 22 international partners for its 5G roaming services in 16 countries.
It recently partnered with True in Thailand; Sunrise in Switzerland; SmarTone and Hong Kong Telecommunications in Hong Kong; Pelephone in Israel; Turkcell in Turkey; Ooredoo and STC in Kuwait; StarHub in Singapore; NTT Docomo in Japan; Vodafone in Australia; Zain Kuwait, Zain Saudi Arabia, and Zain Bahrain; China Mobile and China Unicom in China; Etisalat and du in the United Arab Emirates; FarEasTone and T-Star in Taiwan; and KT Corp in South Korea.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Arjay L. Balinbin
