Globe Telecom, through its wholly-owned subsidiary G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), has partnered with leading Internet social networking site Friendster for online money transfer.

The service, a first within the industry, offers GXI pioneering opportunity to tap Friendster’s more than 13 million active members in the Philippines and millions of Filipinos using Friendster from other countries around the world, who may be in need of a fast, convenient, affordable and reliable means of sending and receiving money from family, friends, and business associates anytime and from anywhere. This money transfer service is made possible through Globe’s flagship mobile commerce platform, GCASH, which transforms a mobile phone into a virtual wallet and enables money transfers via text message.

Friendster, a top 20 global website based on traffic and the #1 social network in Asia and the Philippines, has over 95 million members worldwide. Friendster helps people stay in touch with friends and family and discover new people and things that are important to them, all through an easy-to-use, friendly and interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone from any country via www.friendster.com or m.friendster.com from any Internet-ready device.

GXI and Friendster introduced the online money transfer feature to provide a more convenient and reliable way of transferring GCash within Friendster. For just a minimal amount of P2.50 per transaction, a Friendster member can already send GCash to anyone in his friends list by simply viewing the profile of the intended recipient and clicking the GCash button after specifying the amount involved.

To ensure the security and authenticity of the funds transfer, a confirmation request is forwarded to the sender’s Globe or TM SIM then GCash is transferred as simple as a text message.

Friendster has over 13 million monthly unique visitors from the Philippines per month, which is 93 percent, or virtually all of the 14 million Internet users in the country. A typical user spends 30 minutes a day on Friendster and visits Friendster several times a week, sharing and consuming content with friends and family through a suite of interactive features. This makes Friendster an ideal venue for GCASH transactions to be originated.

More than 6,000 authorized partner outlets in the Philippines accept GCash. Launched by Globe in 2004, GCash enables its users to send and receive money transfers, make purchases and bill payments all through text messages.