Techie
5:19 PM | Monday | 15 March 2010

The wi-tribe brochure

There's a new telecom player in the Philippines, and it's backed by none other than the maker of our pambansang beer. Liberty Broadcasting Network, Incorporated – a partnership between San Miguel Corporation and global telecommunication giant Qtel [Qatar Telecommunications] Group – is now offering wi-tribe, their 4G broadband service.

Wi-tribe uses WiMAX to deliver multimedia services and applications and broadband with speed of up to 1Mbps. The introductory plan costs P998 (with two-year lock-in period), P3 more than Globe Telecom's 1Mbps Broadband WiMAX plan. If you're looking at a six-month or one-year contract, you need to shell out an initial fee of:

• P4,000 (for the CPE unit) + P998  = P4,998 (six months)
• P2,000 (for the CPE unit) + P998 = P2,998 (one year)
  

The offer is initially available in some parts in Metro Manila, but Liberty is rolling out their service to other parts of the metro (and even nationwide) in the coming months.

When we first heard about San Miguel's plan to dip their hands into the broadband cookie jar, we didn't expect they'd have a soft launch of their service this soon. Well, we didn't know any better. We were scouring Greenhills for some cellphone accessories when we chanced upon the wi-tribe booth at the Theater Mall. We're glad they proved us wrong. More telecom players mean fierce competition, and that should be good for us consumers, right?

Wi-tribe's booth at Greenhills Theater Mall

Wanna know if they're already servicing your area? Call wi-tribe at 31-tribe (31-87423).