Smart grooms AI platform as new revenue stream
PLDT Inc.’s wireless arm Smart Communications Inc. expects its newly launched artificial intelligence (AI) platform to become a new revenue stream as it explores embedding the technology into e-commerce and other digital transactions.
On Tuesday, Smart first vice president Lloyd Manaloto said AI.Smart had already attracted paying users following its soft launch, although the telecom giant has yet to set a public revenue or subscriber target.
“Of course, it will be a meaningful revenue,” Manaloto said when asked about the platform’s potential contribution to Smart.
Manaloto described the launch as only “step one,” with Smart looking at AI.Smart as a foundation for a broader digital ecosystem.
The platform was launched with Amihan Global Strategies Inc. and is powered by Avtica.ai.
Smart and TNT subscribers can access it through credit packs starting at P49, charged directly to their mobile accounts.
Avtica CEO Winston Damarillo said the partners eventually want to integrate AI into services consumers already use, including e-commerce.
The goal, he said, is to make AI access similar to how consumers purchase telecommunications services and data.
“We’re going to make this even more accessible, even more sustainable by finding other means by which your AI becomes accessible to you,” Damarillo said.
AI.Smart allows users to work in English, Filipino or Taglish. It can answer questions about uploaded files, draft and summarize documents, build spreadsheets, generate presentations and images, and analyze data.
The platform runs in a dedicated Amazon Web Services landing zone, with inference served through Amazon Bedrock.
It provides access to models including Amazon Nova, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, OpenAI and Thinking Machines.
Smart offers four credit packs: P49 for seven days, P99 for 14 days, P149 for 30 days and P499 for 30 days. The two higher-tier packs can be shared by a team or family.
Manaloto said the AI service could also complement Smart’s 5G rollout, particularly as AI applications benefit from faster and lower-latency connectivity.
Meanwhile, Damarillo said the Philippine setup could serve as a blueprint for similar services overseas.
He said Avtica already has clients in Cambodia, is growing in Latin America and is seeing potential customers in the Middle East.
