As from May 1st 2011, Direct Telecom confirms to reduce the National landline rate by 25.6% which will result in Movistar’s rates being almost 150% more expensive after their announced increase in June 2011.
Recently, Movistar confirmed not only the 50% increase for the call connection fee (currently 10cts, will be 15cts), but also announced the rate increase for the Inter-provincial calls by 71% (currently 4.2cts, will be 7.2cts).
The news announced by Movistar happens to fit in perfectly with Direct Telecom’s confirmation to reduce the going rates even further even though Movistar rates were already 84.6% higher.
The current Direct Telecom Inter-provincial call rate being 3.9cts will drop one full cent to 2.9cts/min as from 1st May 2011 (25.6% reduction).
This means that any Movistar users are paying almost 150% more every minute (increase from 2.9cts DT and 7.2cts Movistar). Not to forget the 100% saving made on the call connection charge.
After obtaining clearance to go ahead with the rate reduction from the CFO, the whole team at Direct Telecom is thrilled with the news. “not only will our customers be saving more money now (which is what we are all about) but there is an even bigger difference than there already was for those who still use Movistar!” says Mariano Cavero (Head of Customer Services).
Looking at the maths, lets consider the difference for a simple 15 minute call:
Movistar (15 mins x 7.2 cts = 1.08€) plus (15 cts connection charge) TOTAL: 1.23€
Direct Telecom (15 mins x 2.9 cts = 0.43€) plus (FREE connection charge) TOTAL: 0.43€
In other words, a 15 minute phone call will be 186% more expensive with Movistar than Direct Telecom.
Nowadays, it is extremely unusual for a telecommunications company to offer rate reductions to all its customers. Usually, all the price reductions are used for promotional campaigns to win over new customers and it is very typical to forget about all those customers that are already on board. “At Direct Telecom however, our approach is different. Not only do we need to maintain our original promise to deliver money saving solutions and opportunities, but it is most importantly necessary to show gratitude and appreciation to all those customers that have been forever loyal to our company” says Mike Broeckaert (MD).