New Smart service offers unlimited calls

MANILA, Philippines – Leading wireless service provider Smart Communications yesterday unveiled a new service that enables subscribers to make unlimited calls to over 38 million mobile phone users on the Smart network.

Called Smartalk, the new service which will be available starting June 26, does not require any changes in SIM or cellphone number and can be enjoyed by Smart Buddy (prepaid) and Smart Gold (postpaid) subscribers.

“With this new service, Smart subscribers all over the country need only one phone, one SIM, and one number, to be able to make unlimited, crystal-clear calls to over 38 million Smart numbers anytime, anywhere,” Smart chief wireless advisor Orlando Vea.

Around 98 percent of subscribers on the Smart network are on prepaid. Of the 38 million, about 23 million are Smart subscribers and the remainder are Piltel’s.

Vea said this is Smart’s way of helping out their subscribers in these difficult times and is their response to the government’s call for more affordable telecommunications services.

For his part, Smart wireless consumer division head Danilo Mojica pointed out that this is the ultimate unlimited. “Smartalk rewrites the rules in the way ‘unlimited’ mobile services are made available to Filipinos. No other service offering provides unlimited, nationwide calling to a subscriber base as large as Smart’s, while assuring callers of crystal-clear signal quality anywhere in the country,” he added.

Smart subscribers will be able to avail of the service by purchasing loads for umlimited calls which come in two denominations. The first is ‘Smartalk 100’ which for P100 offers five days of umlimited calls to any subscriber on the Smart network anywhere in the country at any time of the day.

Another variant, ‘Smartalk 500’ offers 30 days of unlimited calls to any subscriber on the Smart network for only P500, effectively reducing the cost to as low as P17 for a whole day of unlimited calling to any number within the country’s largest mobile subscriber base.

Smart officials said that this new service covers calls not only calls from Smart to Smart subscribers but also those from Smart to Talk ‘n Text. However, calls from Talk ‘n Text to Smart are not included.

Smart Buddy prepaid subscribers may avail of Smartalk through registration. A subscriber just needs to set Talk100 to 6400 for a Smartalk 100 package, or Talk500 to 6400 for a Smartalk 500 load. The payment for the package bought will be automatically deducted from the subscriber’s prepaid load.

They can also buy these Smartalk packages as load from any of over a million Smart Load retailers.

When making a call using the Smartalk unlimited package, Smart Buddy or prepaid subscribers need to dial *6400 plus the 11-digit subscriber number being called.