For 2006, the Globe CIO said that they would remain on the lookout for services that could be launched using new access technologies. Garcia talked about being on the lookout for services instead of technology because he believes that technology, by itself, will not sell in the mass market. 'We have seen this with WAP and GPRS,' he said, which is why Globe has to look for services that could be spawned using these new technologies and determines how much value such services will provide to the customer.

In terms of 3G deployment, Garcia said that this would depend on several factors: infrastructure; affordability of handsets and services; the availability of services such as video calls and video conferencing; and the quality of service -- a key factor since the customer expectations for 3G quality is better than 2 or 2.5G. 'There now are parallel activities that are in progress within the organization towards achieving readiness in these different areas.' With infrastructure, Garcia said that they would have to give priority to areas where the subscriber base is a potential user of 3G.

Since the customers' attitude regarding 3G would depend on the need, affordability, and the quality of services that it will deliver, Garcia noted the need to differentiate such services from those delivered via 2 or 2.5G. 'Although I think there is a segment of the market -- the so-called 'early adopters' -- that will immediately pick up the service, pervasiveness of usage will depend largely on these factors,' he said.

In 2006, Garcia said he expects to see and hear more about the various acronyms that have been seen and heard this year like 3G, VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), IPTV (IP Television), POC (Push-to-talk over Cellular), RFID (Radio Frequency identification), and so on. The adoption of these technologies would, however, depend largely on the services that would enable it, he said. 'We can always look back to the time when SMS was new. Only a few were using it, until people discovered that it was an efficient way of sending jokes, spreading rumors, or simply keeping in touch.'