Globe Telecom will offer all-net call promos for as low as P1/minute as a result of lowered voice interconnect access charges across telcos.
Prior to the availability of the new offers, there were no pure all-net voice call promo existing in the market. Globe Telecom’s call charges to other networks, whether mobile or landline, stand at P7.50/minute while Globe to Globe/TM regular call rate is at P6.50/minute. Regular calls from TM to Globe/TM is at P5.50/minute and calls to other networks (including landline) is at P6.50/min.
“The decision to offer all-net calls for as low as P1/minute is intended to further strengthen the company’s position as the leading mobile brand in the country. Globe, currently, is the network of choice among smartphone users and the availability of such promos could further attract customers into our network. The all-net call promos are our response to customers’ clamor for lower costs of call services,” Globe General Counsel Atty. Froilan Castelo said, noting that 90% of the company’s prepaid customers avail of promos in accessing mobile services.
Under the company’s latest all-net promos, postpaid customers with Plan 2499 and up may choose to avail of a P299 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 P5 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.
The intense competitive environment in the local telco industry has significantly driven down prices of mobile services over the years. In fact, mobile data rates, currently at P50 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 P1/text in the late 90s is now effectively priced at around P0.10/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.