PLDT, Globe bring down voice call rates

PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom have significantly rolled back voice call rates, months after both voluntarily agreed to reduce access charges amid comments by President Duterte that the cost of services remained high.

The decision also comes amid a sharp drop in voice call revenues, a mark of the ongoing digital shift that saw consumers moving to internetpowered instant messaging apps and social media.

PLDT’s Smart Communications and Globe announced new “all net” call promos that allow subscribers to pay as little as P1 per minute for voice calls.

According to an agreement signed last year, PLDT and Globe committed to cut the interconnection charge, basically an add-on fee telcos charge their rivals for using their networks, to P4 per minute for mobile to mobile calls, and P3 per minute for mobile to landline voice calls, or a 16.7 percent to 38 percent cut.

Subscribers can avail themselves of lower rates by using new promos rolled out by Globe and Smart.

For Globe, postpaid customers with Plan 2499 and up may choose to avail themselves of a P299 tack-on that will give them 300-minute calls to all networks.

Moreover, Globe Prepaid subscribers can avail themselves of GoCall50, which gives 50 minutes of calls to all networks for three days while Globe’s TM customers may add P5 to any existing call and text promo for 5 minutes of calls to any network, good for a day.

Smart said its Call 50 promo gave subscribers 50 minutes of all-net calls, valid for three days.

Voice call revenues, still a large contributor to the bottom line, have been coming down in recent years.

For 2016, PLDT said mobile voice revenues fell 20 percent to P37.1 billion while comparable figures for Globe showed an 8-percent decline to P34 billion, offset by an increase in subscriber count for Globe.