telecommunications in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – Share prices on Friday closed slightly lower as investors turned bearish owing to a number of bad news, analysts said.

The bellwether 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index slid 6.18 points, or 0.3316 percent, to 1,857.34 while the broader all-share index dropped 6 points, or 0.4965 percent, to 1,202.41.

The negative market sentiment was reflected by the number of issues which retreated. Losers dominated gainers, 54 to 25, while 35 stocks were unchanged.

Four of the six sectors slipped, led by the 1.4152-percent fall by Financials and 1.1366-percent decline by 3,261.75. Holding Firms and Services also ended lower.

Industrial and Property, meanwhile, gained 1.2833 percent and 0.5444 percent, respectively.

Volume traded was lower with 716.48-million stocks worth P1.239 billion changing hands.

Analysts said signs of deeper and wider impact of the global turmoil to the Philippine economy spooked fund managers.

American semiconductor giant Intel Corp. has announced that it will be closing its Cavite plant, which employs about 1,800 workers, within the year.

The National Economic and Development Authority has also projected that the Philippine economy likely posted a sluggish growth of 3.6 percent to 4.4 percent in the last three months of the year. For the full year of 2008, NEDA said the Philippines' gross domestic product likely grew by 4.2 percent to 4.5 percent, lower by three percentage points than the 7.2-percent expansion in 2007, a three-decade high for the Philippines.

"There was negative sentiment with news of layoff and a weakening economy," said Jose Vistan, AB Capital Securities research chief.

He added that the local bourse continued to follow the lead of other markets. Asian markets were trading lower while Wall Street suffered over a 100-point decline as economic data indicated a further deteriorating US economy.

However, Vistan said that while some fund managers were selling some stocks, other traders were accumulating.

"There are still technical support for Dow Jones and the local bourse, which are at current levels," he added.

East zone concessionaire Manila Water Co. Inc., the top-traded stock for the day, leaped P1 or 10.5263 percent to P10.50.

Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. dropped P10 or 0.4831 percent to P2,060 while rival Globe Telecom Inc. lost P5 or 0.641 percent at P775.

Ayala Corp., one of the country's largest business groups, tumbled P6 or 2.8708 percent to P203.

Bank of the Philippine Islands, one of the country's top lenders, shed P0.50 or 1.3333 percent at P37.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada has called on the government to provide "special fiscal and non-fiscal incentives" to companies that would retrain and employ overseas Filipino workers laid off due to the global recession.

Estrada, chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, and the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment, said the incentives could be in the form of tax credits, tax exemptions, income tax holidays, duty-free importation of raw materials and equipment, or a combination of these and other such motivation measures.

"With these incentives, local companies - even those that had otherwise decided to freeze their hiring of employees due to the economic slowdown, would be able to absorb additional personnel from among the ranks of the retrenched OFWs," Estrada said, adding: "This measure could help retrenched OFWs find new jobs on one hand, and on the other, help our local enterprises weather the effects of the crisis."

The senator noted reports from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) that 3,567 Filipinos from seven countries, including the Chinese province of Macau, have been laid off due to the global slowdown of businesses.

The bulk of the laid-off OFWs - 3,321 - were from Taiwan's electronic, metal works and semi-conductor companies; while some were from Macau's casino and construction firms; South Korea's electronics; Brunei's electrical and telecommunications; Australia's shipbuilding; United Kingdom's garments; the United Arab Emirates' own industries; and from foreign vessels around the globe.

Migrant workers' alliances and support groups have claimed that the actual number of retrenched OFWs is far higher than government accounts.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) admitted that the layoff trend is on the rise, and might persist and even escalate in the next months. It said the retraining of retrenched OFWs could help them find new jobs in other companies abroad or in local enterprises.

"We must come up with innovative strategies in mitigating the effects of this recession on our workers and the economy," Estrada said as he expressed appreciation anew to the DoLE as well as other sectors that supported his call for the holding of an emergency summit on recession.

Estrada said he would push for the government's adoption and implementation of his "special incentives" proposal during the emergency summit which the DoLE said would be held within this month.

Juan Dela Cruz View: Wow Million USD na naman! how much is going to be in my pocket, "how much is going to be hah?" Hope this people learn how to cook camote and banana without using kawali brrr! No wonder I'm still poor, no wonder why I'm still here on you're all there. Anybody or evrybody is welcome to buy a phone so I can text you where you are. Understand? Tol?

The southern province of Vinh Long is gearing up to earn US$200 million in export turnover in 2009, according to Vinh Long People’s Committee. This represents a yearly increase of 10.67%.

The province will focus on exporting the province’s key products, including 200,000 tonnes of rice, 1,000 tonnes of frozen seafood, 4,000 tonnes of fruit and mushrooms, and 17 million eggs.

Apart from the core products, the province will be developing new products such as sport shoes, clothes, medicine and healthcare equipment. These exports are expected to bring in about $95 million in export turnover for the province this year.

To reach the targets, businesses in the province need to build an export strategy and continue to reach traditional export markets in Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, China and the EU. They will also need to boost exports to new markets in Africa, according to Vinh Long People’s Committee.

Vinh Long encourages the development of co-operatives and associations to support the sale of products from businesses and farmers, and to enhance capital investment, the variety of goods and the quality of products.

The southern province of Vinh Long will expand agricultural land areas, as well as increasing production of the province’s special rice varieties and fruits to build the province’s trademarks in the near future.

In 2008, the province earned $181 million in export turnover, up 24.4% over the previous year, but reached only 91.3% of set target.

Footwear was the province’s most increased export last year – up 29.93% on last year, while rice exports only reached 72% of 2008’s target.

Total import revenue for last year was $95 million, an increase of 21.8% over the previous year. The province is also striving to meet an import revenue target of $105 million this year. (VNS)

RCN Corporation (NASDAQ: RCNI), a leading provider of all-digital television, high-capacity data, and voice services to residential, business customers and service providers, announced that it has launched the second phase of RCN’s Global Passport, an exciting digital tier of international programming. Today’s announcement presents the addition of five new international premium networks and two new subscription-only Video ON DEMAND (SVOD) programming.

“Our on-going commitment to provide the most innovative programming from around the world to our customers is what motivates us to continue building our international channel lineup,” said RCN President & CEO, Peter Aquino. “Our Global Passport vision is enabled by RCN’s Analog Crush project where new spectrum real estate is now available for highly desired and exciting new content.”

Two of the new channels joining RCN’s international channel lineup include two exciting and popular Filipino channels, GMA Pinoy and GMA Life. Produced by GMA Networks, the Philippines’ leading broadcast company, these channels offer the very best in Filipino variety shows, morning talk shows, as well as news and entertainment programs. GMA Pinoy TV's entertainment programs feature the current No. 1 primetime program in the Philippines, "Dyesebel," and other similarly exciting and popular shows such as "Codename: Asero," "Ako si Kim Samsoon" and "Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan." In addition, the channel offers award-winning news and public affairs programs that include flagship newscast "24 Oras" and public affairs programs "I-Witness," "Emergency," "Imbestigador" and "Wish Ko Lang," among others.

In addition, two other new channels, Television Korea 24 (tvK24) and MYX offer unique and exceptional content to RCN’s Asian-American customers. TvK24 is the leading provider of Korean language and cultural content in the US, consisting of news, dramas, movies, sports and children’s shows. MYX, the only Asian-American music and lifestyle channel, offers the hottest major-label hits, massive Asian jams and indie music around the clock.

Russia’s leading television network, Channel One Russia (C1R), also joins RCN’s international channel lineup, offering news, documentaries, talk shows, feature film presentations and more. The channel features programs, such as “Vremya”, an undisputed news leader for more than thirty years; Vladimir Pozdner’s debate-style program “Vremena” and the analytical “Voskresnoe Vremya” review the week’s events; documentaries “Tajny Veka”, "Kreml’-9“, “Chelovek i Zakon” and others.

“This latest expansion adds to the robust Hispanic content themed packages of MiVisión and Global Passport tiers, offering the best in international sports, family, children, travel and lifestyle programs,” said Richard Ramlall, Senior Vice President, Strategic External Affairs & Programming. “Our goal is to be the leader in presenting the most diverse international programming to customers, so we continue to develop and expand this segment of our channel lineup and Video ON DEMAND offerings.”

Two new subscription-only Video ON DEMAND programs are also available, including Bollywood Hits ON DEMAND and Filipino ON DEMAND.

During RCN’s initial launch of the Global Passport tier, the following programs were added: Setanta, STAR India PLUS, STAR India GOLD, STAR ONE, and Antenna Satellite.

To subscribe to the Global Passport channels on RCN, customers can call 1-800-RING-RCN (1-800-746-4726). These channels are available to RCN customers located in markets that have been converted to an all-digital spectrum as part of RCN’s Analog Crush (SM) project, including Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Washington, DC Metro Area, Philadelphia, PA, and New York, NY.

About RCN Corporation

RCN Corporation, http://www.rcn.com, is a facilities-based, competitive broadband telecommunications services provider delivering video, high-speed data and voice services to residential and small-medium business customers under the brand names of RCN and RCN Business Services, respectively. In addition, through the RCN Metro Optical Networks business unit, RCN delivers fiber-based high-capacity data transport services to large commercial customers, primarily large enterprises and carriers, targeting the metropolitan central business districts in the company's geographic markets. RCN's primary service areas include Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley (PA), New York City, Boston and Chicago. (RCNI-G)

Philippine shares surged Monday, the first trading day of the year, with investors taking their cue from last week's rally on Wall Street.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index rose 101.84 points, or 5.4 percent, to 1,974.69.

Investors followed the lead of U.S. markets, which closed sharply higher on Friday, said Grace Cerdenia, managing director of 2tradeasia.com. They also expected inflation in December to decline further from 9.9 percent in November, she said.

"However, investors will likely take the market on a day-to-day basis to see if the 2009 run-up can be extended," she said.

Top-traded Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (nyse: PHI - news - people ) climbed 5 percent to 2,220 pesos. Rival Globe Telecom Inc. was higher by 3.9 percent, closing at 790 pesos.

Ayala Corp., the country's largest conglomerate, surged 7 percent to 224 pesos.

Geothermal producer Energy Development Corp. rose 0.3 percent to 2.18 pesos.

While watching one of the noontime shows on TV last weekend, I couldn’t help but notice the huge segment devoted to Smart Bro’s new prepaid service. This got me curious so I researched on it a bit more and found out that there was something indeed new and noteworthy about it.

For starters, it’s the first and only portable prepaid broadband service that I know of that’s available in the market. It’s not as fast as the average DSL service, but at least you can get bring it with you anywhere and you don’t have to go through the stringent process of applying for one as such is the case in most post-paid services. Smart had previously made available a portable solution to their broadband service via a USB modem, but this time around, this new service makes use of a prepaid SIM that can easily be loaded just like a regular SIM only this time around, it’s dedicated for data transmissions only. It also makes use of the existing 3G network which is the first real-world application I’ve seen so far that really highlights the value of the high-bandwidth network for everyone. The rates are similar to data calls made which is P 10 per 30 minute block.

The availability of this new prepaid service is indeed helpful in making the internet accessible to more people. Of course, this is only as good as the 3G signal in your area, but neverthless, kudos to Smart for this simple yet effective innovation.