Campaigns beats Basic for Philippine telecoms launch

<p>MANILA: Campaigns & Grey has snatched the Digitel GSM business, </p><p>reportedly worth US$1.5 million, from Publicis affiliate Basic </p><p>Advertising in a tight two-horse race. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Until Campaign's win, Basic was the main agency for Digital </p><p>Telecommunications Philippines' entire Digitel One account. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The third and final player in the GSM networking category, after the </p><p>Philippine Government stopped handing out licences, Digitel is gearing </p><p>to launch its GSM offering in the second quarter of next year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It plans to spend $200 million to launch its GSM network </p><p>nationwide. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>As a newcomer, Digitel faces two dominant, heavy-spending competitors - </p><p>PLDT subsidiary Smart Communications and Globe Telecom. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In addition to their heavy advertising expenditure, both Smart and Globe </p><p>are also investing heavily to improve their GSM network ahead of </p><p>Digitel's launch. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Despite the global cooling in telecoms activity, Globe will invest </p><p>$784 million and Smart will commit $335 million to expand </p><p>their GMS networks and customer base. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The budgeting for media campaigns is still being defined. We intend to </p><p>become a key player next year," said Patricia Go, director of </p><p>advertising at JG Summit, the largest shareholder in Digitel, with a </p><p>47.4 per cent stake. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>