Oks News Philippines

Globe Telecom, a leading telecommunications service provider in the Philippines, and Western Union, the world’s leader in global money-transfer services, announced today that consumers in Hawaii can now send Western Union mobile money transfers to Globe GCASH subscribers in the Philippines.

This is the first time that consumers will be able to send and receive funds via the Western Union® Mobile Money Transfer Service. The cross-border service, which supports low-principal, high-frequency remittances, allows consumers in Hawaii to send remittances to their families and friends in the Philippines. Funds are sent from Western Union-Agent locations in Hawaii quickly and conveniently through GCASH, Globe Telecom’s mobile wallet service that allows subscribers to conveniently send and receive money using their mobile phones.

A consumer in Hawaii wanting to send a mobile money transfer can now visit any Western Union-Agent location inside a Foodland store on the islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island and send up to $100 USD for a fee of $4.50 USD. The beneficiary in the Philippines will receive the remittance in the equivalent peso amount through GCASH in his Globe mobile phone. The service is also available in TM, Globe’s mass market mobile phone brand.

The affordability of mobile money transfers, as well as the convenience of sending funds directly to a GCASH subscriber, will allow more people to send more frequent, low-principal transactions to their families and friends in the Philippines.

“GCASH has served millions of Filipino consumers including overseas migrants and workers through the years by allowing them to instantly and directly send and receive remittances in their mobile phones,” said Globe’s President and CEO, Gerardo C. Ablaza, Jr. “GCASH has managed to grow its network reach and establish a distinct proposition among mobile users in the Philippines with money transfer requirements. We are pleased to be the first partner to receive Western Union Mobile Money Transfer transactions which will lower the cost and increase the accessibility of remittances for overseas Filipinos and their families,” Mr. Ablaza added.

“The combination of Western Union’s Agent network and Globe’s GCASH service introduces a compelling new way for consumers in the Philippines to receive money from friends and family overseas,” said Matt Dill, General Manager of Western Union Digital Ventures. “ We look forward to bringing additional regions into this pilot program in the weeks and months ahead.”

More than 6,000 authorized partner outlets in the Philippines accept GCASH. Launched by Globe in 2004, GCASH enables its users to send and receive cash, make purchases and bill payments, as well as give donations, all via SMS. GCASH can even be used to pay electricity and water bills, purchase medicine and pay school tuition fees. It also allows overseas Filipinos to send remittances to their families in the Philippines. As of March 2008, GCASH has 1.5 million users.

To find out more about GCASH, call the Hotline at 2882 toll-free using a Globe or TM mobile phone, (+632) 739-2882 from a landline, or log on to www.g-cash.com.ph.