(Update 2) Globe, Smart cut voice call rates for the weekend

Customers of the Philippines’ top two mobile phone companies will enjoy reduced voice call rates over the weekend. Starting Saturday, October 3, until Sunday, October 4, Globe Telecommunications Inc. will cut voice call rates to three pesos a minute, the company said, confirming an earlier radio report. The reduction will be implemented starting 12:01 a.m. of October 3 until 11:59 p.m. of October 4, a dzBB radio report said. In the meantime, Smart Communications Inc., the Philippines’ leading mobile phone firm, announced a similar discount hours later. Subscribers of Smart and Talk ‘N Text (TNT) “can call other Smart and TNT users at the rate of three pesos a minute from 2 AM of October 3, to 2 AM of October 5," Smart public affairs officer Novaleeh Clotario-Concepcion told GMANews.TV in a text message. Discounts of both Globe and Smart cover only calls made on their respective networks. “No special dialing procedure will be required to avail of the three peso per minute rate," Globe’s corporate communications head Menchie Cruz said in a text message. “Subscribers can just dial directly when making a regular mobile voice call." The discount was offered after thousands of residents of Metro Manila and the Calabarzon provinces temporarily lost their signals or were unable to make calls or send and/or receive text messages at the height of storm Ondoy. Its technical teams have been working round the clock to fully restore its services, the text message added. “As of three o’ clock of Friday afternoon, 99 percent of affected facilities are back online," Cruz’s message added. “The company expects 100 percent restoration very soon." The weather disturbance, the 15th that hit the country this year, has affected 629,000 families, including 293 fatalities, based on the latest report from the National Disaster Coordinating Council Globe shareholder donates P1 million to Ondoy victims In a related development, a total of P2 million have been donated by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. – one of Globe’s biggest shareholders – and Globe. Each entity has donated P1 million for relief efforts to help victims of Tropical Storm Ketsana, the company said in a separate statement. “The fund will be used to distribute 10,000 relief packs containing essential items including food and water, to families in various affected communities. This contribution will help Globe reach families in far-flung affected areas such as Marikina and Rizal areas," the company said. Earlier, the Philippines’ second-largest mobile phone company donated P3 million to the GMA Kapuso Foundation, the affected communities of Gawad Kalinga, and the ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya. Globe has opened its business centers in several areas in Metro Manila to facilitate the acceptance and distribution of relief goods to the typhoon victims. Globe has also opened the relief operation to the public by partnering with the Philippine National Red Cross for the Donate-A-Load service. Donors in the Philippines may text RED5/25/50/100/300 to 2899. Ex. Txt RED 50 to 2899. The transaction is free of charge. Globe’s GCASH is also extending its help to overseas Filipinos families and beneficiaries by offering free remittance services via its GCASH REMIT from 30 September to 5 October 2009. - GMANews.TV