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PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is likely
to post a 50-percent growth in the number of subscribers
registered to its wireless landline service.
Its
Landline Plus is a fixed-wireless telephone line that
serves as an alternative basic voice communication for
business customers in areas with limited or no available
PLDT fixed facilities. The service runs on PLDT’s fixed
and wireless networks.
Company
president Napoleon Nazareno said the demand for the
service is strong given the phone giant’s coverage and
quality of service. At end-March, PLDT registered 75,000
Landline Plus subscribers, of which close to 60,000 are
postpaid and 15,000 prepaid. “We expect this to
increase by 50 percent more in the current quarter,”
said Nazareno.
PLDT’s
Landline Plus postpaid service was launched in March
2007, while the prepaid service offering was launched in
March of this year.
“Our
plan is to launch PLDT Landline Plus in areas with
limited or non-existent facilities of ours. A postpaid
version has been in the market since March last year and
a prepaid offering was introduced last March. Demand for
the service has been very strong given the service’s
value proposition,” he said. Subscribers to this service
have reached 153,000.
Landline
Plus SIM (subscriber identification module) card costs
P100. It can be used anywhere within the area or
province applied for.
Also,
the PLDT Group has launched its own Voice-over Internet
Protocol offering, dubbed as Talkpad, which allows PLDT
and Smart Communications Inc. subscribers to call and
send text messages to PLDT Talkpad subscribers at
domestic long-distance rates. Talkpad is an
Internet-based service that enables relatives and
friends abroad to call the Philippines at the lowest
rate at $0.14 per minute.
“It is
very similar to what Vonage, Yahoo! and Skype are
offering,” said PLDT head for regulatory affairs and
policy Ray Espinosa said.
PLDT’s
VoIP service requires users to download software into
their computers. |
