Sun intros 1-Peso International SMS

This was first explained to me by a friend who got a new Sun Cellular SIM. Then, last week I got to talk to a marketing manager from Sun who lent me a phone with their new Sun Cellular International SIM in it and adds that their international SMS is only Php1.

I asked her if there was some special gateway or SMS-over-IP sort of thing that allowed them to offer international SMS rates this low (it’s usually Php15/SMS). She said there’s none and just attributes it to hardwork of their bizdev team to partner with telcos from other countries.

Commercial Name:Â Call & Text International Sim

Pre-loaded with Free 5 minutes of IDD 10* (valid for 30 days)
– Free 5 iSMS to 20 destinations** per month for 6 months (1st month is free; for the 2nd-6th month, subs must load at least Php50 worth of load to avail the free 5 iSMS)

Special Rates: Php1 per iSMS to 20 destinations**
– $0.20/min IDD rate to 20 countries***

Price of SIM pack: Php49

sun-cellular-aga-mulach
It’s not really applicable to all countries though. For the calls and SMS, they mostly target regions where there are a significant number of OFWs living.

This is almost similar to Globe’s OFW SIM although that one comes with paired SIM cards (one is for local and the other is roaming-ready). The OFW market, with over 8 million Filipinos working abroad, remains to be an open battleground for such telco services and we’ve yet to see any dominant player in that segment.

* IDD 10 countries: US Main, Canada, China, HK, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Guam, Macau & Brunei.

** iSMS 20 destinations: USA, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Macau, Japan, Qatar, Brunei, Guam, Hawaii, Oman, Cayman Island, Cyprus, Turkey, Northern Marianas Island, Jamaica, Bahamas & Puerto Rico.

*** IDD 20 countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy,Indonesia, Hawaii, Kuwait, Bahrain, Germany, Spain, Israel, France, Greece, Jordan, Northern Marianas Islands & Cyprus.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

20 Comments

Cherry says:

13 years ago

How to register isms 20?.. thanks… :D
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John says:

13 years ago

how much will it cost them to send SMS here in the Philippines? for example from Puerto Rico to Philippines.
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mig says:

13 years ago

In my 3 months of using this sim, it seems ok..But lately they are charging P10 even if it’s just ringing the dial tone… Grabe dial tone pa lang kinakaltasan ka na… eventhough the call was missed, kahit puro ring lang!!! kapag inabot ng 2 minutes yung pa-ring mo P20 pa ang kaltas… DTI should check on this, masyadong HOLD-UP eh…tsk tsk tsk
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medz says:

14 years ago

when you say $0.20, how much is it to peso?
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Kinny says:

14 years ago

I love my international sun sim. Even texts to Dubai is 1 peso. With Globe Dubai is not covered by ITXT 50.

@max

30 cents a minute for UK. Still cheaper than Smart or Globe’s 40 cents.
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seaman says:

15 years ago

It’s nicer if 1 peso charge from other country to philippines, not the other way.
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max says:

15 years ago

can any one tell me wht is the rate for sms n calling at england
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Filipino says:

16 years ago

This is great news for all the OFW. I hope that the other network will do same way.
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Uly says:

16 years ago

abe, matagal na yang Sun International SIM.

http://jepoy.bengero.com/2008/06/sun-cellular-launches-new-call-text.html

http://technogra.ph/20080621/sections/deals-and-promos/sun-cellular-offers-p100-per-international-sms/
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BrianB says:

16 years ago

Abe, there’s a report of several stolen laptops. Maybe you can do a post on how you keep your electronics safe. You are on the go every time and carry a lot of expensive equipment.
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orak says:

16 years ago

i just bought Sun Call & Text International Sim moments ago upon reading this blog and it’s working well with Rogers Communications in Canada. Darn it. I wish I knew this service months ago. I am now texting my relative @ P1 in Canada! :)
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information says:

16 years ago

Is that Php 1.00 applicable to any telcos of that country? That would be good. I would tell my stepmom in singapore right away.
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Adrian says:

16 years ago

wow astig naman yan.
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Gene says:

16 years ago

@ Luigi Francisco

What do you mean cheap?! They are not cheap!

Affordable! hehehehehehe
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Luigi Francisco says:

16 years ago

that is cheeeap.
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Andre Marcelo-Tanner says:

16 years ago

nice
- Reply

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