PLDT launches VoIP offering for OFWs
By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 09:19:00 05/08/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Testing the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) market for Filipinos working and living abroad, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has launched its own VoIP offering.
While PLDT executives admit that this service will affect its international long distance (ILD) business, the company hopes to attract users because it will offer lower rates of $0.14 a minute, said Napoleon Nazareno, president and CEO of PLDT and Smart during a financial briefing this week.
Ray Espinosa, ePLDT president and CEO, added that the VoIP service requires users to download software into their computers. "So it targets Filipinos abroad," he added.
"It is very similar to what Vonage, Yahoo! and Skype are offering," Espinosa said.
During the first quarter of 2008, PLDT reported a continued decrease in international long distance revenues. But the company said that this was mainly due to the "negative impact arising from a stronger peso."
"ILD revenues continued to decline as our dollar-linked revenues were adversely impacted by the 16 percent appreciation of the average US dollar-peso exchange rate in 2008," the company said in a statement.
The VoIP service, dubbed PLDT Talkpad, also lets PLDT and Smart subscribers to call and send SMS messages to PLDT Talkpad subscribers at domestic long distance rates.
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