Smart slashes payphones call rates to P3/min effective Dec. 1

Users of SmarTalk payphones will be able to call more relatives and friends during the Christmas season when leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) implements on Dec. 1 a uniform P3-per minute call rate to major landline phones anytime, anywhere. Calls to landlines operated by the Philippine Association of PrivateTelephone companies (Paptelco) members will likewise be lowered to P4 per minute.

The new rates reflect a rate cut of as much as 81 percent.

Prior to the flat national direct distance (NDD) rates for landlines, calls on the SmarTalk GSM (global system for mobile communications) payphones cost P12 per minute for calls to a landline in Luzon, P14 per minute to the Visayas, and P16 per minute for calls to Mindanao.

According to Cristina Mariano, head of Smart’s public access department, with the lower rates, users, especially those without telephones at home or mobile phones, will be able to afford longer conversations with people they seldom see. Calls to any cellular phone are likewise the lowest among payphones at P8 per minute.

"We want to make the SmarTalk GSM Payphone a payphone of choice. Our payphone offers the lowest cellular rates. SmarTalk is also the only payphone in the country capable of two-way texting," she said.

Smart has installed more than 6,000 payphones in strategic areas nationwide such as 7-11 and other convenience stores, Good-Ah! restaurants, Robinsons, Gaisano and other malls and inside Philippine Rabbit and Victory Liner buses.

SmarTalk payphones are likewise installed on board the ships of Negros Navigation Co., Inc. and vessels of Cebu Ferries. SmarTalk payphones will likewise be installed in WG&A’s Superferries. SmarTalk Payphone cards are available in denominations of P150, P300 and P500.