Sun Cellular, the wireless brand of mobile service operator Digitel Mobile Philippines Incorporated, is aiming to open 37 new partner-operated retail outlets by end 2015.

The value-brand telco revealed this during the inauguration of its store in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. The move is expected to accelerate regional growth and maximize its presence in the communities where its market segments are.

Through this new line of retail outlets called “The Sun Shop Satellite Branch”, Sun Cellular will be banking on commercial partnerships with authorized third-party entities to run retail operations for its mobile service business. These will provide existing and prospective subscribers access to postpaid line applications, bills payment and prepaid transactions for both its 2G and 3G brands, including its mobile internet services.

Since 2007, the mobile brand has been pursuing a similar expansion model to effectively branch out into new stores in different parts of the country. As strategic extensions to its company-operated and mall-based stores, these outlets are designed to support Sun Cellular’s fledging postpaid business.

“While we continue to expand our line of services, we will also work on widening our touchpoints to ensure that every value-seeking customer gets a convenient end-to-end experience of our services,” says Maloo Agoncillo, Vice President and Head of Retail Support for Smart and Sun Cellular.

Going where the customers are

With a huge chunk of retail partners consisted of its existing regional and provincial sales distributors, Agoncillo reveals that Sun Cellular will be leveraging more on a grassroot and regionalized orientation of distributing their telecommunications products.

“Aside from generating additional revenue streams, we trust that these partnerships will lead us to where our customers are and ground our business further to better address the needs of the value-seeking segment, particularly in local markets,” affirms Louie de Guzman, AVP and Center Head for Retail Partner Management for Smart and Sun Cellular.

Reporting a total of 124 Sun Shops by the end of 2014, Sun Cellular is projected to unlock even more market opportunities as the need for its economical postpaid offerings and bucket loads continue to arise in the regional landscape.

Co-located outlets

In line with Sun Cellular’s ongoing integration with its sister companies from the PLDT Group, these regional outlets will also be carrying the complete product portfolio of Smart Communications (Smart).

“We are able to combine the strength of Smart and Sun with this strategy,” said Charles A. Lim, Executive Vice President and Wireless Consumer Division Head of Smart and Sun Cellular. “People can come in to avail of postpaid services, avail of prepaid packages, get the latest gadgets and devices, and enjoy the benefits of after-sales services. We are very excited with this development because we are able to expand our reach, and most importantly, we are able to serve our customers better,” Lim added.

While Smart is venturing on new generation or café type stores for the upscale segment, this joint regional roll-out is geared towards maximizing support for telco group’s combined market of about 75 million subscribers from Smart, Sun Cellular and Talk ‘n Text.

“The official launch of this business office, The Sun Shop Satellite Branch, is an important milestone for us: This is the first shop that will offer Smart and Sun services under one roof. This is our template for the future. We hope that this combination will enable us to serve our Smart and Sun subscribers in better and more effective ways. Our business- owned stores are effectively our embassies. And through them, we keep in touch with our customers and help them out when needed. Our offices are thus a concrete expression of our commitment to serve our customers and the community,” says PLDT and Smart President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno.