SURF Shop Inc., one of the country's leading Internet service providers, has launched an aggressive marketing scheme to further expand its foothold in the local Internet business.

This was announced by Alex Reguyal, Surf Shop chair and president, who said the marketing program would not only generate market interest but also provide Surf Shop subscribers with additional revenue opportunities.

Reguyal said the sales blitz, dubbed the "Network Associate Program," would tap Surf Shop's wide customer base for a multi-level marketing scheme designed to consolidate Surf Shop's leadership in the industry and spur the growth of Internet use in the country.

"This will also enhance the affordability of Internet access in the country, enabling more Filipinos to tap into the global community, which is the World Wide Web," Reguyal explained.

He said participating subscribers, or network associates, would earn a certain percentage of monthly payments made by all Internet subscribers within his or her network up to five levels deep.

An associate would only need to directly recruit three new subscribers to start earning commissions, Reguyal said.

He added that the associates could earn a percentage of payments made by all subscribers they recruited for an indefinite period of time without having to sell them anything else.

This was because the main product--Internet service--required monthly subscription payments, he pointed out.

Reguyal said the initial market response to the scheme had been "very enthusiastic" due mainly to the boom in Internet patronage in the country.

The need to be connected to the cyber community and the growing trends in e-commerce have made access to Internet a must, Reguyal explained.

He added that home-based subscriptions were also on the rise due to the growing number of so-called small home-offices, which also need to be connected to central business districts here and abroad.

Surf Shop is the first local Internet service provider in the country to offer all-digital 56K lines that can download data at nearly twice the speed of a regular analog phone line.