Mobile operator allows users to transfer minutes

Philippine Smart mobile operator now offers a service that allows users to transfer minutes from one account to another. It already started a new business model, with poorer users selling their available minutes - thus reducing the amount of money needed to own a mobile phone.

"Ms. Gazo, a 33-year-old housewife who lives 600 miles south of Manila in Davao City, is one of more than 100,000 mobile phone users who re-sell Smart's cellular services through a new prepaid service called Smart Buddy e-Load. With a special, $20 chip for her mobile phone, Ms. Gazo can transfer bits of air time to her friends' and acquaintances' phones - as little as 30 pesos worth (about 55 cents).

For every 1,000 pesos she sells, Ms. Gazo collects 150 pesos in commissions, turning her mobile phone into a second source of income for her family of four."

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