PLDT, Globe slash voice call rates

The Philippines’ two largest telecoms operators PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom have slashed voice call charges following a recent agreement between the two to voluntary cut costs in the wake of comments by President Duterte that the cost of telephone services is too high. The Philippine Daily Inquirer notes that with voice call revenues dropping in the face of a wide-scale migration to IP-based instant messaging apps and social media, PLDT and Globe have unveiled a new ‘all net’ promotion with fixed voice call prices starting from as low as PHP1 (USD0.01996) per minute. As per the two operators’ new interconnect agreement, mobile-to-mobile calls have been cut to PHP4 per minute, and PHP3 for mobile-to-fixed line voice calls – equivalent to a cut of 16.7% and 38.0% respectively.