PLDT wants fixed monthly rate for pre-paid landline

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) plans to impose a fixed-monthly rate for customers subscribing to its landline prepaid services. The nation's largest phone firm, in its application filed with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Tuesday, said the maintenance cost of its Teletipid and Telesulit prepaid landline services have gone up as the systems requires special and customized repairs. The rates for Teletipid and Telesulit are P1 per minute for local calls, P5 per minute for national direct distance (NDD) and $0.40 per minute for international direct distance (IDD). While both services are no longer being offered to new applicants, PLDT still maintains its current rates for the said services. PLDT proposed to modify the rates by imposing a P115 monthly access charge for both Teletipid and Telesulit services. The additional fee is a non-consumable fixed monthly access charge which will allow line usage for incoming and outgoing calls for one month. PLDT said it will maintain existing call rates per minute for NDD and IDD. PLDT’s application also stated that it wants the proposed modification to be made permanent. PLDT’s Teletipid service was introduced in 2000 and Telesulit, a variant of Teletipid, was later offered in 2002. PLDT has replaced Teletipid and Telesulit services with Pwede! Card, the first reloadable PIN-based prepaid card that provides access to a combined range of voice and Internet services at affordable rates. The service is applicable to a host of fixed line and wireless services including local, domestic, and IDD, text messaging, payphones and prepaid Internet. - GMANews.TV