Think before you call: Globe charges P5 for 911 calls

Globe subscribers should think before calling 911 once it’s up and running next month, as the telecom giant will charge an extra P5 per call on top of their regular voice charges.

 

NO PRANK CALLS. Or, at least that’s the idea for all Globe Telecom subscribers. (Image grabbed from yugatech.com)

 

In a statement released yesterday, Globe General Counsel Atty. Froilan Castelo said that the extra charge was “suggested by the government to discourage prank calls.”

Castelo also said that “Globe Telecom is ready to transmit voice calls for emergency hotline 911 and complaint hotline 8888 on August 1, as directed by the government.”

They are also hastening their system migration to allow Globe subscribers to send text messages to 8888, the government complaint hotline requested by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. 8888 is Globe’s primary customer service hotline.

The main reason for this move seems to be the number of hang and prank calls received on the Patrol 117 hotline. According to this article from the Philippine Information Agency, Patrol 117 received an average of 57 hang and prank calls per hour last year.

This, however, was not taken well by netizens. They fear that if you are ever in an emergency without load, you won’t be able to call for help. Some also think that it’s Globe Telecom’s way of making money out of a 911 call.

911, first introduced in Davao City, will replace the current Patrol 117 emergency hotline, which will be linked to the Nationwide Emergency Response Center. It was largely successful, with a response time of 5 minutes.

8888, on the other hand, can be used by the public to report corrupt officials, underperforming government personnel, and unfinished government projects.

 

Source: Rappler, GMA News Online, Globe Telecom Newsroom, Philippine Information Agency