HONG KONG — IDT Asia, the regional operating arm of IDT Telecom, announced that it has launched VersaLoad, a mobile top-up services for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the region through a collaborative arrangement with Communigate Technologies Inc. (CTI), a Philippines-based communications services aggregator.
IDT Telecom is a subsidiary of IDT Corp., a multinational holding company with operations that span several industries.
In 2006, the number of OFWs in 197 countries hit a historic high of 1,062,567, having grown 7.5 percent from 2005.
About 28.3 percent of OFWs are working in the Asia-Pacific region, with Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Korea among the top 10 destinations, according to a recent report from the Philippine Overseas Employment Association (POEA).
IDT has been meeting the telecommunications needs of this population with its Tawag Na phonecard, which allows OFWs to enjoy low 24-hour international direct dialing (IDD) flat rates to the Philippines and elsewhere while enjoying crisp and crystal-clear quality.
IDT’s collaboration with CTI allows it to offer OFWs this new value-added service, which in turn enhances the functionality of IDT’s prepaid calling cards for these customers.
With the introduction of the IDT VersaLoad service, OFWs can now benefit from the mobile top-up feature available through their IDT Tawag Na phonecard.
The IDT VersaLoad service allows IDT Tawag Na phonecard users to use their prepaid balance to transfer load credits to their loved ones in the Philippines, sending prepaid top-up credit in various denominations to Globe, Smart, Sun, Talk & Text, and TM subscribers.
Chip Barton, IDT Asia’s managing director, said, “IDT Asia strives to help Filipinos worldwide communicate with their friends and loved ones in new and better ways. Through the years, IDT has consistently delivered reliable, cost-efficient international calling services to our customers worldwide. By teaming with CTI on VersaLoad, we further strengthen our commitment to bringing more value-added services to the ever-growing population of overseas Filipinos.”
“We have been developing a comprehensive mobile loading system, and the strategic tie-up with IDT gives us more coverage and brings our innovative services closer to the millions of Filipinos abroad,” said Mario Lazaro, president of CTI.
“By working with IDT’s talented team — not to mention its high quality of service, reliability and huge customer base — our system’s capabilities will be fully utilized and the solutions that we offer will definitely leverage on our combined strengths in business process and technology. As one of the world’s pre-eminent multinational telecommunications companies, IDT is in a strong position to deliver the kind of convenient and functional solutions in airtime top-up that OFWs deserve,” Lazaro added.