PLDT might make cheap call promo permanent

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) will extend its flat rate call promotion to June 11 and might continue it indefinitely as it has proved to be a runaway success, an official of the telephone giant said last week.

The telephone company said the number of callers as well as the total number of calls made using the service has continued to increase since its introduction on February 14, 2005.

The promo allows PLDT landline subscribers to call other PLDT subscribers nationwide for a flat rate of 10 pesos for each call instead of the usual per-minute rate.

Butch Jimenez, head of PLDT's Retail Business Group, said that customer requests have encouraged the comapany to extend the promo.

Calls to PLDT's customer service hotline, 171, have increased from 5,000 calls per day to over 35,000 calls per day. Most inquiries are related to the 10-peso per call promo, the executive said.

Jimenez said PLDT might make the promo permanent.

The promo of PLDT is open to the 20 million subscribers of Smart and Talk ' N Text, apart from the two million landline subscribers of PLDT.

PLDT said earlier that the promo had increased demand for its landlines.

"We hope to end the year with a net station gain, as against a net station loss that PLDT has experienced over the last five years, " Jimenez said.