Verizon may reduce long distance rates

Verizon Micronesia is planning to reduce its long-distance call rates within two months, as part of the company’s plan to enhance its competitiveness in the local market.

Verizon marketing manager Russ Quinn disclosed that the company is conducting an analysis on the possible rate reduction to determine its scope while maintaining the service’s profitability.

“We’re looking at possibly doing that [long-distance rate reduction] in the near future,” Quinn said. “We’ll try to be competitive with other companies.”

Quinn said the company would pursue the plan regardless of the outcome of a deal transferring control of Verizon’s operations from Micronesian Telecommunications Corp. to prospective purchaser Pacific Telecom Inc.

Verizon’s long distance rates can be as cheap as 14 cents per minute on off-peak hours for calls made to the United States. Current rates can reach a couple of dollars for calls made to Africa and South America.

Verizon has also begun bringing in to Saipan 3G [3rd generation] cellular phone units, which are capable of data applications, Internet access and camera function. Its cellular plans offer free interisland and long distance calls to the U.S. and Canada, and include call features such as call waiting, three-way conference calling, no answer transfer, call forwarding and busy transfer.

Verizon claims to be the only service provider of unlimited cellular plan, which gives phone users the freedom to use unlimited minutes for $199.99 per month. Other cellular plans, though, can be as affordable as $35 a month, particularly the Taga Digital plan, which entails 175 minutes of call.

For $50 per month, the Taga Executive Digital plan entails free 275 minutes and caller ID. Add $35 to this amount and one can already avail of the Taga Business Digital plan that offers free 500 minutes, caller ID and cellular voice mail. The Taga Ultra Digital plan includes free 900 minutes, cellular voice mail and caller ID.

Subscribers of cellular plans other than the unlimited can avail of unlimited minutes during nights and weekends by adding only $17.99 to their plan.

Verizon also recently launched a new $50-monthly rate for its DSL service. Quinn said the 256-kilobyte Nitro DSL was introduced in June for a more affordable service.

The Turbocharged DSL service, which was upgraded to 768 KB, remains at $135 per month. The service includes three months of free Internet access, five email addresses, domain name registration, and web hosting up to 10 megabytes. The 512 KB Supercharged DSL costs less at $85 monthly.