RP a key development area for Inter.Net

The Philippine subsidiary of international consumer Internet access and content provider Inter.Net is one of four key areas of development for the mother company because it has a critical mass of technical professionals who can help develop new ideas, projects, and services.
In a press briefing yesterday at the Peninsula Manila in central Metropolitan Manila, Inter.Net president and chief executive officer David Browning said Inter.net Philippines, Inc. is among four of the company's 16 offices worldwide that plays a critical role in its development strategy. The other three offices are located in Berlin, Germany, Virgina, USA, and Brazil.

For instance, Mr. Browning said the Philippine subsidiary is actively engaged in one of the company's broadband initiatives in South America. He said the Philippine offices takes part in the project development through the Internet.
 

NO BOUNDARIES
"There are no boundaries," Mr. Browning said about how the company leverages on the expertise of Filipinos to support international projects. He said Inter.net remains committed to support the growth and development of the Internet and e-commerce industry in the Philippines.
Mr. Browning, together with the company's local officials, was also set to meet Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. yesterday to discuss plans on how to support the solon's ICT initiatives.
Meanwhile, Inter.Net Philippines also unveiled yesterday its new Internet prepaid card product and shared hosting services.

 
Therone Yupangco, country manager of Inter.Net Philippines, Inc., said the move is in line with the company's strategy to widen its market base. For the shared hosting services, he said Inter.net wants to serve companies outside the Philippines that may want to outsource the hosting of their e-commerce solutions. Mr. Yupangco said most of the local small to medium companies cannot afford to pay the monthly fees for hosting services, so the company has decided to expand its market abroad. Inter.net offers companies hosting services for a monthly maintenance fee starting at US$70. The service covers high-speed network connection, network connection monitoring, secure access, customer domain name registration, use of the company's payment gateway, among others. For the Inter.net prepaid access card, Mr. Yupangco said the company hopes to capture a bigger consumer base of the prepaid market as well as companies that may want to provide their employees, such as sales staff, with prepaid Internet access instead of a dial-up account.
The company's prepaid cards are available in denominations of PhP100, PhP200, and PhP500 through Inter.net's authorized dealers and distributors. Inter.Net has over 800 distributors in Metro Manila alone.
 

LOCAL REACH
The cards have roaming features which presently cover the areas of Baguio in northern Luzon's Cordillera Administrative Region; Metro Manila, also known as the National Capital Region; Batangas and Laguna in Luzon's Southern Tagalog Region, Naga in southern Luzon's Bicol Region; and Cebu in Central Visayas. Inter.Net is also introducing the cards to the market with a raffle promo. Mr. Yupangco expects evenues from Inter.Net's consumer and corporate businesses to be equally split.
 

Inter.Net offers dial-up, broadband satellite, and wireless Internet access services to consumers and small businesses in Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia.
The access and customized services of Inter.net also include personal E-mail accounts, personalized content development, web hosting, and domain hosting.
In the Philippines, Inter.Net currently has 14 points of presence in Metro Manila, Bacolod, Baguio, Batangas, Boracay, Cavite, Cebu, Iloilo, Kalibo, Laguna, Lipa, Batangas, Miagao, Naga, and Zamboanga. It will soon establish POPs in Vigan, Bulacan, Tarlac, Dagupan, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao.

By Helen A. Jimenez