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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Directory assistance calls drop 50%
By Arvy E. Lopez
THE new directory assistance service by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) called the Enhanced Directory Assistance Services (eDAS) has seen a 50 percent drop in calls from subscribers.
Since eDAS or Call 187’s launch this month, calls for PLDT’s directory assistance service have decreased by as much as 50 percent, PLDT head of computerized directory assistance service operators service Raquel Tanchico said in a telephone interview from her Manila office.
PLDT has replaced the 114 directory assistance, which was free of charge, with the Call 187, which charges P3 per two inquiries.
PLDT said if the company did not stop using the 114 system, its database would collapse and it would not be able to integrate all its information services.
Unlike in the 114 system, Call 187 can provide additional information such as email addresses, websites and office hours of business establishments.
Before Call 187, prank calls and other unnecessary inquiries were made. But now that people are charged for the calls, these kinds of calls have declined, Tanchico said.
PLDT has 297 Call 187 operators, all in Manila.
Early next year, PLDT will create a tie-up with Smart Communications Inc. through a program called “Text to Text.”
Through the Text to Text program, PLDT subscribers may dial 187 and ask the operators for cell phone numbers of Smart post-paid subscribers, she said.
(October 29, 2003 issue)
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