Telecom duopoly trims down voice call rates

As competition heats up

The country’s telecom duopoly is scrambling to slash call rates as competition for voice service tightens. Smart Communications, Inc. will soon roll-out R1 per minute calls to all networks for Smart, TNT and Sun subscribers, the telco yesterday announced.

Last week, rival Globe Telecom also offered all-net call promos for R1/minute as a result of lowered voice interconnect access charges across telcos.

Prior to the availability of the new offers, no pure all-net voice call promo exists in the market.

Significantly, the intense competitive environment in the local telco industry drove down prices of mobile services over the years.

In fact, mobile data rates, currently at R50 per GB, has gone down 88% over the last 3 years.

As a result, the Philippines has one of the lowest data prices compared to top telco providers in Asia, second only India’s Airtel.

Text messaging, which used to be at R1/text in the late 90s is now effectively priced at around R0.10/text with the proliferation of unlimited text services.

Efforts to reduce prices for call, text, and data will benefit consumers as telco products and services become more accessible to the Filipino masses.

Smart’s latest offer, dubbed Smart Express Call 50, provides subscribers with 50 minutes of all-net calls, valid for 3 days, bringing down the cost of calling family and friends on any network to R1 per minute.

Smart subscribers will be able to enjoy Smart Express Call 50 as an addon to top Smart Prepaid offers.

The R1 per minute all-net call rates shall also be made available for Smart Postpaid subscribers who may enjoy the rates on top of their existing plan.

TNT and Sun shall also roll out similar offers, allowing users to conveniently boost their existing TNT and Sun promos with 5 minutes of all-net calls for only R5.

The upcoming offer is in line with Smart’s thrust to provide Filipinos with meaningful connections through innovative mobile products and services.

With Smart’s lowest all-net call rates at R1 per minute, subscribers can enjoy greater flex- ibility, allowing them to keep their loved ones within reach – whether to check on everyone’s activities, confirm an item on the grocery list, or just relay an important concern when the need arises – without having to worry about the cost.

Furthermore, it allows users to keep their bond with friends stronger and more personal through frequent catch-up calls and random chats, and set aside work-related worries because they could easily reach out to colleagues for any pressing matter.

Once rolled out, Smart Express Call 50 will come in handy when relaying directions to an Uber driver, confirming details with a local Airbnb host, or reaching out to top establishments via their mobile numbers.

Meanwhile, rival Globe announced that the decision to offer all-net calls for R1/minute is intended to further strengthen the company’s position as the leading mobile brand in the country and attract more customers into its network.

Already, 90% of Globe’s prepaid customers avail of promos in accessing mobile services.

Globe Telecom’s call charges to other networks, whether mobile or landline, stand at R7.50/minute while Globe to Globe/TM regular call rate is at R6.50/minute. Regular calls from TM to Globe/TM is at R5.50/minute and calls to other networks (including landline) is at R6.50/min.

Under the company’s latest all-net promos, postpaid customers with Plan 2499 and up may choose to avail of a R299 tack-on that will give them 300-minute calls to all networks.

On the other hand, Globe Prepaid subscribers may avail of GoCall50 which gives 50 minutes of calls to all networks, good for 3 days; TM customers may add R5 to any existing call and text promo for 5 minutes of calls to any network, good for 1 day.

With these new promos, Globe expects call traffic to further increase in 2017, after reaching 69.1 billion minutes in 2016 – an 18% rise from 2015.