Alan SupnetAlan C. Supnet, head for Consumer Broadband Products at SKY, is not afraid of challenges. The sixth child of parents who both worked as government employees and a proud product of public schools, he credits his drive to excel to the challenges of finding his place in the sun.

“My competition then was myself. I wanted to give back and thank my parents for all their hard work so I really pushed myself to excel at all times,” says Supnet, who graduated with honors from Quezon City Science High School and cum laude from the University of the Philippines with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accountancy, a five-year quota course. He then passed the CPA licensure exams in 1994 with flying colors and became one of the early Young Market Master Awardees—a recognition being given to exemplary marketers in the country aged 35 years and below.

After a seven-month stint with a foreign bank, Supnet spent 14 years with Globe Telecom Inc., building up its prepaid business including the autoload service made available in sarisari stores. Amid cutthroat competition, he had to travel to more than 18 countries to establish a relatively unknown brand in the international market and gain acceptance among overseas Filipino workers. The demands of an overly toxic telco war took its toll on him and he eventually decided to take early retirement.

Bitten by corporate bug

While on vacation in the US, his wife chanced upon edible fruit arrangements (fruits creatively arranged in mugs or vases like bouquets), studied all about them, brought the concept home and their own brand, FruiQuet, a small but thriving business in the Philippines. A year into their FruiQuet enterprise, the corporate bug bit again and Supnet chose to join SKY as head of Brand Marketing instead of a universal bank based in faraway Makati. That was more than eight years ago.

As SKY reorganized last year, Supnet was assigned to his current post in May 2018 and has since thrived in the challenger position of SKY Fiber in the market.

“MLL (ABS-CBN chairman Mark Lopez) and CLK (ABS-CBN chief executive officer Carlo Katigbak) recently told us during a ‘Kwentuhan’ session that their dream for SKY was for it to be the best broadband provider in the Philippines. It is a collaborative effort throughout the company and I believe SKY has the momentum to grow the broadband business quickly and sustain it. Our growth in the last eight months alone has been tremendous as we added close to 50,000 subscribers, much faster than the less than 10% growth of the wired internet subscribers of our closest rivals in the industry,” he says.

Recognizing that “internet is life,” SKY recently launched new consumer Super Speed “unli” fiber broadband plans that can compete with the giants in the telco space. Supnet is counting on the Lopez Value of business excellence to boost the team’s chances of gaining more market share.

‘Reliable alternative’

“Broadband is the future of the company, because it is a necessity. No or slow internet has a very negative effect on people. Broadband service impacts on their daily lives. It keeps them connected, allows them to work and helps them achieve their business or personal goals. For SKY, it is very important that we deliver on our commitments. We have to excel and rise above the big players. We are the challenger brand, so we have to become known as the reliable alternative. Customers don’t have loyalty anymore. They go by their experience, so we have to ensure that our customer touch points, particularly for after-sales servicing, are excellent,” he says.

Because of the pressure of competition, and SKY’s ambitious “best broadband” dream, Supnet stays focused and healthy through worklife balance. He gives vent to his artistic marketing side with the family business of FruiQuet on weekends, gets to play tennis with friends, and walks their two dogs in their village. He looks forward to traveling during long holidays. “The pace of telco is very fast, I really allocate ‘me’ time so I don’t get burnt out.”

His message to “LopezLink” readers: “Please do try SKY Fiber. Choose from any of our new Super Speed plans and benefit from the Kapamilya service you will get from SKY. Be among our ambassadors. Let’s help each other—we can give you the right internet speed you need to run your business or household, and you can help us achieve that ‘best broadband’ dream. For any of your queries, just text the Kapamilya hotline at 23661 or simply download the new mySKY mobile app via Google Play or the App Store.” (Story/Photos by: Carla Paras-Sison)