ABS-CBNmobile partners with KakaoTalk

ABS-CBNmobile will be offering its subscribers free unlimited KakaoTalk chat and call services for the next three months.Kakao Philippines country manager Jean Lee said that ABS-CBNmobile subscribers can make calls, send text messages, and share photos and videos using the KakaoTalk app from 7 July to 10 October.“We are offering Kakao for free so that more people can try it and discover how much more fun it is to communicate with each other through Kakao,” said Carlo Katigbak, president of ABS-CBN Convergence.“Our customers don’t have to worry about mobile internet charges because there aren’t any. Even if you don’t have WiFi or data load, you can still use Kakao,” he adds.Media giant ABS-CBN entered the telco arena last May, establishing ABS-CBNmobile via a network sharing agreement with Globe Telecom. As of April, the telco has 195,692 subscribers.The partnership is the latest in a string of exclusive telco deals with internet and mobile services in a bid to boost subscribers and traffic. Globe Telecom touts a growing list of high-profile partners that include Facebook, Google and Spotify while Smart Communications have Deezer and Spinnr, among others.Mano Huh, Kakao Philippines’ marketing head, is expecting that the campaign will boost its user base and complement current promotions with key celebrities.“We are getting a solid growth. We’ve been very big on TV with our endorsers. We’ve been gaining solid user base here in the Philippines,” he added.Among Kakao’s ambassadors in the Philippines include teen love team Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, pop princess Sarah Geronimo and K-Pop group BigBang.The newest telco player in the country is aiming to get 1 million subscribers by end-2014 and 2 million by 2015.PICTURE: ABS-CBNmobile and Kakao Philippines ink deal for free chat and calls. From left: Cat Uy, head, Finance, Planning and Operations, ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.; Connie Lopez, head, Telco and Partner Relations, ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.; Carlo Katigbak, president, ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.; Jean Lee, country manager, Kakao Philippines; and Mano Huh, senior manager, Kakao Philippines.