Globe launches prepaid landline service

With only 24 percent of its total number of fixed telephone lines currently subscribed, Globe Telecom has embarked on a new scheme to attract new customers.

Globe unveiled yesterday its prepaid landline service which, according to company officials is not only affordable and easy to control, but also helps subscribers manage their telephone charges.

The Ayala-owned company hopes to duplicate the success and popularity of cellular prepaid service in the case of fixed lines.

The country’s landline business is currently suffering from undercapacity, with only two million lines subscribed out of a total of 5.8 million installed lines. In the case of Globe, of 700,000 lines installed, only 170,000 are currently subscribed.

Globelines prepaid is a service that provides a landline phone for outgoing and incoming calls without having to worry about monthly bills.

To make calls, a subscriber needs to load his account via prepaid cards. The whole value is loaded into the phone account and expires two months from loading date.

Residents within a Globe Telecom landline service area such as Makati, Mandaluyong, Marikina, San Juan, Cavite, and Batangas can avail themselves of the new prepaid service.

According to Globe senior vice president for fixed lines Gil Genio, there is a one time charge of P1,300 (with free P300 card) to cover for the cost of telephone installation and handset. Local calls are charged 25 centavos per minute while national direct dial (NDD) calls are levied P3 per minute. For calls to a cellular phone, the cost is P12 per minute while international direct dial (IDD) calls are charged $0.40 a minute.

He said Globelines prepaid is expected to boost the company’s fixed line subscriber base and make phone service more affordable to more people. "We have to give the subscribers various plans and more choices and options," he said.

Genio, who is also the chief operating officer of Isla Communications (Islacom), believes that with this new offering, there will be an improvement in the landline subscriber numbers. "We believe that Globelines prepaid will be attractive to people from all walks of life who want convenience and more affordable rates," he said.

Of Globe’s total revenue, only around 10 percent comes from voice and data. "Ideally, the share of fixed lines should be higher than 10 percent," Genio said.

He also emphasized that this is one way of allowing more people to have access to basic telephony.

Globe vice president for fixed network Joaquin Teng, Jr. also pointed out that with this new service, Globe expects to attract budget-conscious people who either do not want or cannot afford to pay the fixed monthly charge for a regular phone. Globelines charges a higher installation fee of P1,650 for postpaid landlines compared to P1,300 in the case of the prepaid fixed line.

Islacom, now a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of Globe, is expected to offer the same prepaid landline service at basically the same rates for its Visayas service area as soon as the National Telecommunications Commission hands down its approval.