Following the successful launch of its partnership with all mobile operators in the United Arab Emirates, PLDT wireless arm Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) partners with Zain, a leading mobile voice and data services operator in the Middle East to further expand its 5G roaming services in the region.

Under this partnership, Smart prepaid and postpaid customers overseas will be able to access worry-free 5G roaming speeds while in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The Middle East is home to many overseas Filipinos, second to North America. This makes Smart the first Philippine operator to have the widest roaming coverage in the territory.

“Smart’s 5G roaming service allows a Smart subscriber to enjoy worry-free 5G service even while abroad through Smart’s 5G roaming partners. This is part of our commitment to deliver the best experience to our customers,” said Alice Ramos, Vice President for International Roaming and Consumer Business at Smart.

Smart 5G roamers in Saudi Arabia can subscribe to GigaRoam Saudi Arabia for P499/30 days, which includes 1GB data allowance with open access for web surfing, video streaming, and use of social applications.

Meanwhile, overseas customers in Kuwait and Bahrain can enjoy GigaRoam packs for as low P999/5 days. With GigaRoam, they can enjoy value-for-money 5G roaming data allocation and validity coupled with 5G roaming speeds because of Smart’s partnership.

“Customers with 5G-ready SIMs and 5G-capable handsets can enjoy 5G roaming speeds for better video experience, and seamless data connectivity for the productivity or social platforms that they need to access when they visit other countries for work or vacation,” added Ramos.

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Like Smart, Zain KSA has also been recognized by Ookla, the global leader in internet testing and analysis, as the telco with the “fastest fixed network speed in the Kingdom.”

This comes after Smart’s partnership with UAE’s Etisalat and du, resulting to a full 5G roaming coverage in the Emirates; Taiwan’s FarEasTone; and South Korea’s KT Corp. Taiwan and South Korea number among the world’s top three countries for best 5G experience in a February 2021 report by mobile analytics and insights research company Opensignal.

This series of 5G roaming partnerships with the world’s top operators in key markets is a testament to Smart’s commitment to providing world-class roaming services to its travelers as travel restrictions are anticipated to relax with mass vaccinations.