Starmobile is making history by being the first ever Filipino brand to assemble mobile phones in the country. Its manufacturer, Star Telecom Alliance Resources, Inc. (Star Inc.), announced the beginning of its local mobile production on June 15.
The manufacturing facility—located in Calamba, Laguna—has started assembly of 20,000 units of Starmobile’s UNO B208, a dual-SIM feature phone with basic features like built-in FM radio, camera with flash, flashlight, expandable memory, multimedia playback, and long battery life with power that can last up to two days.
Starmobile is yet to announce if it has plans to assemble any of its smartphone models in the manufacturing plant in the future. Although smartphones are currently more popular among local consumers, the company reiterates that demand for basic call-and-text feature phones still thrives nationwide, obviously because of affordability and power efficiency brought about by their compact screens.
This move is part of Starmobile’s strategy to further strengthen its brand and business, while contributing to the economy by providing employment in the production area. “Aside from bringing us a step closer to our dream of building up the Philippines as an important player in the global tech scene, this will also benefit our bottom line, as it will result in more cost and time-efficient logistics and shipment around the country,” said Starmobile COO Michael Chen.
“In addition, because we will have parts and an assembly facility locally, we expect this to improve our after-sales support for our customers.”
Watch how they assemble mobile phones in the facility: