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Home About Search SMS Industry Cellular Coverage Text Prices and Promos SMS Services Mobile Banking SMS Applications Texting Culture SMS in Government GSM/SMS Technology SMS Misuse TxtBuff Updates Text Messaging News in the Philippines SMS Industry NTC confirms Mislatel Consortium as 3rd major telco The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has confirmed Mislatel Consortium as the new major telecommunications player to compete with PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom. The consortium is owned by Davao-based businessman Dennis A. Uy and state-owned China Telecom Corp. Ltd. The companies behind the consortium are Mindanao Islamic Telephone Inc. (Mislatel), Udenna [...] Latest News 3rd telco needs 2G to compete with PLDT, Globe PLDT finally surrenders CURE frequency for 3rd telco Globe, Smart signals cut during Papal visit Telcos provide Libreng Tawag and Charging stations for Yolanda survivors Telcos restore communcations after Yolanda typhoon NTC confirms Mislatel Consortium as 3rd major telco Posted on November 20, 2018 November 21, 2018 by Caroline Siñel in SMS in Government , SMS Industry The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has confirmed Mislatel Consortium as the new major telecommunications player to compete with PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom. The consortium is owned by Davao-based businessman Dennis A. Uy and state-owned China Telecom Corp. Ltd. The companies behind the consortium are Mindanao Islamic Telephone Inc. (Mislatel), Udenna [...] More on Mislatel Comments (0) Understanding the Common Tower Policy Posted on October 20, 2018 November 16, 2018 by Caroline Siñel in SMS in Government In the Philippines, the current number of cell sites is 16,500. Unfortunately, this is not enough to serve the needs of millions of mobile internet users. According to the telcos, the long process of securing permits is slowing down the expansion of their networks. To address the demand for more cell towers, the governement will push tower sharing to be mandatory among all telecommunication companies. [...] More on TowerCos Comments (0) Delays still hindering new 3rd telco player Posted on June 19, 2018 June 27, 2018 by Karlo Thumos in SMS in Government Is the search for a third telecommunications player dead as a Facebook post claims it is? According to the Department of Information and Communications Technology stated on June 16th, the search is still on. Pierre Galla, the co-founder of Democracy.net, posted on social media that highly talked about third telco player wasn’t going to happen after all. The current chief of DICT, Eliseo Rio, said this couldn’t [...] More on Telco Serye Comments (0) 3rd telco needs 2G to compete with PLDT, Globe Posted on June 8, 2018 June 11, 2018 by Karlo Thumos in SMS Industry Johannes Benjamin R. Bernabe, commissioner of PCC, says in order to be competitive and offer the best 2G service to customers, they’ll need a certain amount of bandwidth range from 2G frequency. Bernabe talked about how somebelieve 2G isn’t that important since smartphones have access to 4G and 5G frequencies, but currently 40% of the Filipino market uses non-smartphones, which is a [...] More on 2G , Globe , PLDT , Telco Serye Comments (1) PLDT finally surrenders CURE frequency for 3rd telco Posted on March 15, 2018 March 16, 2018 by Karlo Thumos in SMS in Government , SMS Industry In compliance with a request from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), PLDT Inc. has officially surrendered one of its frequencies to the government. The surrendered frequency is to be allocated to a new player in the telecommunications industry. As per the directive from the NTC, PLDT is giving the frequency for free. The 10 MHz 3G frequency was previously allocated to [...] More on CURE , NTC , PLDT , Telco Serye Comments (0) Text messaging is now 25 years old Posted on December 3, 2017 December 3, 2017 by Caroline Siñel in Texting Culture Did you know that the first text message was sent 25 years ago? Engineer Neil Papworth sent "Merry Christmas" to Vodafone Director Richard Jarvis on December 3, 1992. Neil Papworth was part of the team developing a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) for Vodafone UK. He was assigned to test the software originally intended to be used as a paging service. Little did they know that text messaging [...] Comments (0) BPI mobile banking on Globe (USSD-based) Posted on November 2, 2017 November 2, 2017 by Caroline Siñel in Mobile Banking BPI’s mobile banking facility through USSD *119#, allows BPI account holders to do banking transactions such as check account balance, perform fund transfers, reload prepaid, or load their GCASH wallet using their mobile phones. Here’s how to use BPI Express Mobile via USSD *119# on your Globe/TM cellphone. [...] More on BPI , Globe , Globe GCash , Touch Mobile Comments (2) Guide to using Globe GCash Posted on February 18, 2017 February 18, 2017 by Caroline Siñel in Mobile Banking Globe Gcash allows any Globe or TM user to send and receive money, buy prepaid load, pay bills, and do a lot of other money-related transactions, anytime, anywhere using SMS. The following is a guide to GCash registration, KYC, funding (cash-in), application of GCash Mastercard, withdrawal of funds (cash- [...] More on Globe GCash Comments (10) Pay SSS contributions and loans using GCash Posted on January 12, 2017 February 3, 2020 by Caroline Siñel in SMS Services SSS members (self-employed, voluntary, OFW, farmers, fishermen, non-working spouse) can pay their SSS contributions and loans using GCash. No need to line up at payment centers. Just dial *137# *143#. This service has been available since December 2015. SSS members must be prepaid or postpaid Globe or Touch [...] More on Globe GCash , SSS Comments (25) USSD codes explained Posted on January 6, 2017 January 9, 2017 by Caroline Siñel in GSM/SMS Technology Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes are codes used to communicate with the network provider or to connect to an application. Most USSD codes start with an asterisk (*) followed by a few digits, then end with a number sign (#). When the <SEND> key is pressed, the USSD code is sent [...] More on USSD Comments (0) GCash Mastercard upgraded with EMV now available Posted on December 22, 2016 December 23, 2016 by Caroline Siñel in Mobile Banking GCash has upgraded their GCash Mastercard with EMV chip technology. The EMV chip can provide better security by protecting the card against counterfeit frauds or from being replicated. Aside from the EMV upgrade, GCash Mastercard can also be requested to become Beep enabled. GCash has been issuing [...] More on beep , EMV , Globe GCash , Mastercard Comments (12) List of mobile frequency bands in the Philippines Posted on December 17, 2016 November 21, 2018 by Caroline Siñel in GSM/SMS Technology Do you want to know how much frequency bandwidth is allocated to each network provider? Below is a list of GSM, UMTS and LTE frequency bands allocated to Smart, Globe, Sun Cellular, Bayantel and Extelcom. This list is useful for those who want to know if their handset/device is compatible with their chosen [...] More on 2G , 3G , 4G , frequency bands , GSM , LTE , UMTS Comments (9) Vince and Kath textserye now has a movie Posted on December 6, 2016 December 6, 2016 by Caroline Siñel in Texting Culture The first textserye, Vince and Kath, which became viral earlier this year has been made into a movie. It is entitled Vince & Kath & James and it will be shown in cinemas on December 25, 2016 starring Joshua Garcia as Vince, Julia Barretto as Kath and Ronnie Alonte as James. It is directed by Theodore Boborol [...] More on movie , textserye Comments (0) TxtBuff News has a new WordPress theme! Posted on November 30, 2016 December 5, 2016 by Caroline Siñel in TxtBuff Updates TxtBuff News has a new theme. It now has an About page, finally! It still has the same layout but the color scheme was changed from maroon/lime green to pastel blue and green. Th...