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Phone Cards,
Prepaid, Philippines Phone Cards, India, International
The Calling Card Industry
The phone card industry's exponential growth is a direct result of
the consumers need for cheap and convenient communications services.
Pre-paid Philippines phone cards and monthly billed calling cards often
offer considerably lower long distance rates than the more traditional
phone
services
such as coin, cellular and collect calling. Additionally pre-paid phone
card rates remain constant no matter what time or day the call is placed.
Philippines phone cards were introduced in the U.S. in the early 90's
and the large phone companies used traditional channels to market their
cards
to their customers. Until 1996 the phone companies made no significant
effort to sell their cards as they already had a thoroughly established
and entrenched profitable market. New products and concepts were also
hard to sell to a public who already had a system that worked.
The advertising industry and a number of small telecommunications
companies eager for some of the massive communications market first
identified the
power and "sellability" of the pre-paid card and before the big
phone companies wiped the sleep out of their eyes the phonecard industry
exploded. Mass production, the pre-paid Philippines phone card's relatively
low cost and the ability to produce low denomination cards suddenly
produced a new advertising
medium. By printing a company name on a card or information commemorating
a specific event, innovative telecom companies began marketing the
cards as promotional items. Philippines phone cards were sold as
prizes or incentives and tourist souvenirs. They also became collectors
items exactly like stamps
and
baseball
cards due to their being run in limited editions. The retail phonecard
had arrived and was turned into an expendable bulk consumer product
like gum,
toothpaste, film and razors. All this with the added incentive that
you could, at very low cost, deliver a consumer message to the holder
who has to look
at the card to make a call. Combine this with the fact that a calling
card actually allowed you to call long distance cheaper than your regular
long
distance company and you have a winning combination. To add the icing
to the cake you had a number of cards to choose from and you weren't
bound to
the captive suppliers of old.
The combined reach of the new markets expanded the distribution
of phone cards from a few hundred thousand in 1992 to over 70 million in
1995. Philippines phone cards are now sold through virtually every conceivable
channel, from convenience
stores and corner cafes to vending machines. Pre-paid cards now co-exist
with and in many case have replaced collect calling and coin pay phones
as the preferred method of placing calls. Calling cards are also extensively
used to make local or intralata calls where the local phone company
is unable
to provide competitive rates.
Philippines phone cards are here to stay. They are now being packed with additional
services. Pre-paid internet accounts, e-mail services, paging, SMS messaging,
voicemail, cellular phone service, international callback, and a variety
of audio, text and digital information and entertainment services. WAP technology
is here too.
The industry is still full of surprises and the first disposable cellphone
cards are already edging into the market. This is a wafer thin phone card
complete with a keypad, microphone and earpiece which you use as a combined
phone/calling card. When its used up you throw it away and buy a new one!
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