Tag: Asia

SMART Communications and Western Union to Deliver Mobile Remittances in the Philippines

Posted by | Jan 29, 2008 | |

The Western Union Company announced today that it has joined forces with Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), a leading wireless services provider in the Philippines, to jointly develop and pilot a Mobile Money Transfer service.

The service, which is being developed as part of the GSM Association’s Mobile Money Transfer strategic initiative, aims to make low-principal, high-frequency remittances available to the country’s more than 8 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).(1)

SMART, which ended 2007 with more than 30 million subscribers, already has an established mobile financial service platform linking local bank accounts to mobile handsets, providing significant convenience for banked consumers. At the end of 2007, more than 7 million SMART subscribers were in the Smart Money system, close to 2 million of whom are cardholders. The company has agreements with five Philippine commercial banks and links to over 7,000 ATMs nationwide, more than 100 Smart Wireless Centers and thousands of third-party Smart Money fulfillment partners.

“More than 44 percent of households in the Philippines have a relative or family member working abroad,(2) and the mobile phone plays a tremendous role in keeping families connected,” said Matt Dill, General Manager, Western Union Mobile. “We believe there is a real opportunity to extend the reach of Western Union’s brand and service proposition to a new and more mobile consumer base.”

The number of immigrants globally is about 200 million – approximately 3 percent of the world’s population.(2) According to recent World Bank data, the Philippines is the fourth-largest receiver of remittances in the world and received an estimated $17 billion USD in 2007.

Once the Western Union(R) mobile money transfer pilot has launched, the service will connect operators to Western Union’s existing global money transfer system. Once connected to the Western Union service, operators will be able to use their own “mobile wallet” software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union’s cross-border remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.

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US integrators boost air freight services outside home turf

Posted by | Jan 28, 2008 | |

UPS and FedEx have expanded their air freight services, predominantly in Asia. Rival DHL, meanwhile, is facing calls for a retreat from the US.

FedEx is out to get a larger share of the intra-Asian air freight market. On January 10, the integrator launched an economy door-to-door service for shipments between 10 markets in the region as well as for exports from these areas to North America and Europe.

The new “International Economy” offering is a day-definite product with transit times that are typically one or two days longer than the FedEx’s premium service. On intra-Asian legs, this means usually two business days, whereas shipments to the US or major European centres take three to four business days on average.

At this point, the service is available in Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. In March, FedEx plans to extend it to Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Small to medium-sized companies are the main target group of the new offering. According to the integrator, the product addresses the needs of customers in Asia who look primarily for reliability and cost efficiency.

Individual packages must weigh 68 kilos or less, but there are no weight restrictions on multi-piece shipments. The service includes Customs clearance and a money-back guarantee.

UPS has overhauled its international air freight portfolio, with the emphasis on markets outside its US home turf. The new line-up, which features three products, is a move to integrate the company’s air freight services into a single portfolio along the lines of its express parcel set-up.

Rival DHL is facing a bigger challenge to get its house in order, according to major Wall Street firms. Over the past couple of months, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley both released studies that characterised the express outfit’s foray into the US market as a loss-making disaster with no black figures in sight.

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DHL Japan opens its new package drop-off center

Posted by | Jan 28, 2008 | |

DHL opened this new Express Center in the KNT Tourist Nihonbashi Sales Office under a business entrustment agreement with KNT Tourist Co., Ltd., a travel agency operated by Kinki Nippon Tourist Co., Ltd. The new Express Center will accept documents and packages dropped off at the facility by DHL account holders.

Notably, the new DHL Nihonbashi Express Center is the first location in Japan to offer the DHL Simple Pack Service, an easy-to-use service featuring a simplified fee structure. The DHL Simple Pack Service offers dedicated envelopes and boxes, the fees for which are not calculated according to weight but rather according to destination zone (Asia Pacific, America, or Europe / Other regions). These fixed fees are not subject to adjustments based on monthly rate fluctuations in jet fuel surcharges.

The DHL Nihonbashi Express Center is located in the historic Nihonbashi area, Japan’s financial center and an important business district with roots dating back to the Edo Period. The large concentration of companies and proximity to the Shin-Nihonbashi Station and many other JR and subway stations mean convenient access for customers to drop off shipments on their way to/from work, as well as while shopping or other leisure activities. The new Express Center is expected to meet the anticipated high demand from not only corporate customers but also office workers, business travelers, as well as tourists who wish to send personal shipments to overseas destinations.

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China's postal business revenue surges 16 pct in 2007

Posted by | Jan 25, 2008 | |

China’s post service business revenue stood at 93 billion yuan (12.9 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007, up 16 percent year on year, Xinhua learned Friday from a work conference of the Chinese State Post Bureau.

“The year of 2007 was the fastest growing year of the country’s post industry and the China Post Group saw robust growth of postal, financial and express services,” said Ma Junsheng, director of the bureau at the conference.

The development goal for the country’s post industry in 2008 includes increasing the total business revenue to 106.5 billion yuan, improving the express service qualities and establishing a post service quality appraisal system.

Ma said the country was scheduled to help every village in the country to have access to post services in 2008.

In 1998, China carried out the reform to separate postal and telecommunications businesses from each other nationwide, and in 2005 the government carried out further reforms to separate administration from business operation in the postal sector.

Under the new postal system, postal enterprises operate independently while administrative departments supervise the industry according to law.

In January 2007, the restructured State Post Bureau and the China Post Group had officially started operation. By September 4 last year, all postal businesses at the provincial level had been separated from administrative functions.

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Postal dept launches Project Arrow

Posted by | Jan 25, 2008 | |

Kamlesh Chand, Deputy Director General (personnel), launched the second phase of `Project Arrow’ here on Saturday. Three post offices (Kanpur GPO, Nawabganj and Cantt) were selected for modernisation and computerisation.

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