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PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) expects to double its
wireless landline subscribers this quarter in light of increasing
demand and plans to launch the service in areas with limited or
non-existent fixed lines.
“The demand and take-up have been strong, we
expect more than 50-percent growth in the current quarter,”
Napoleon Nazareno, PLDT president, told reporters.
At end-March, PLDT Landline Plus subscribers
stood at 75,000, some 60,000 of which are postpaid and 15,000,
prepaid.
“Demand for the service is strong, given [PLDT’s]
superior coverage and quality of service… Our plan is to launch
PLP in areas with limited or non-existent PLDT fixed-lines,”
Nazareno said.
Its rival Bayan Bayan Telecommunications Inc.
has about 160,000 subscribers in key cities in Metro Manila, the
Visayas and Mindanao.
Globe Telecom Inc. and Digital
Telecommunications Philippines Inc. also offer wireless landline
service through Mango and Globe Wireless Landline, respectively.
The International Data Corp. has noted the
growing popularity of the service in certain markets as operators
use the technology to offer unlimited voice calls that resemble
services offered by traditional landlines.
Earlier, the National Telecommunications
Commission issued a draft circular ordering that the interconnection
of carriers offering wireless landline service be free of any access
charges if the calls originate and terminate within local calling
areas.
“Subscribers shall be allowed to move
around, originate and receive calls anywhere within a local calling
area,” the circular said, adding that all calls made within a
local calling area should be considered local calls.
The NTC circular further said that subscriber
units registered within a local calling area should not be used
outside the local calling area.
The regulator said wireless landline calls made
from one local calling area to another local calling area will be
considered national long distance calls and imposed the appropriate
interconnection access charge.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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