Telecom Response to Disasters in Asia And Pacific

Telecom Response to Disasters in Asia And the Pacific

Telecom customers will not be charged for home phone calls to Samoa from midnight Tuesday until midnight Friday 2 October. Calls to Tonga will also not be charged from midnight Wednesday to midnight Friday.

“Many New Zealanders are making calls to check on the safety of family and friends. We feel it’s important that our customers are not worrying about the cost of those calls,” says Telecom Retail CEO, Alan Gourdie.

“However, it is imperative that all telecommunications providers take steps to prevent overloading the local networks in affected countries so that essential calls and emergency services can be connected. For this reason calls should be kept to under five minutes.”

Chorus has offered technical resource to provide on the ground assistance if needed in Samoa.

Telecom’s 7500 staff in New Zealand are collecting funds and the company will match what its staff raise. In addition 200 mobile devices are being provided to the Red Cross for distribution where needed.

New Zealanders wishing to make donations are encouraged to contact the Red Cross on 0900 31 100 to make an automatic $20 donation.

These credits do not apply to 059, calling cards or calls from mobiles.

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Telecom has already made provisions to credit customer for any call they made from their home phone to landlines or mobiles in the Philippines from midnight Friday 25th – midnight Tues 29 September.

ENDS

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